Son of Iron
by KuroIchi30866
Summary: June has finally decided to call up Jack's father and have all three meet for the first time in 16 years. Jack is about to have a shock when he finds out exactly who his father is.
1. Chapter 1

**This story actually was a dream that I've been having for a while now. I'm gonna be changing it up though. This will be a major crossover of several things later on, but for now it will be only two things. I really should be working on my essay instead, but I wanted to get this written before I forget more about it.**

**Enjoy!**

June sat at the dining room table with a steaming coffee cup held tightly in both her hands. Her gut felt like it was twisting, and her heart and lungs felt like they were being squeezed. Her son, Jack, was off with the Autobots today. It was her day off as well. She didn't mind that he was away. Honestly. She was happy he had finally made friends even though most weren't from Earth. She glanced at the photo album that sat on the table in front of her. It was opened to the only photo she had of Jack's father.

Lightly tanned skin and handsomely set face. His dark brown hair was kept in a strange style of messy and neatly combed that only he and Jack could pull off. Brown eyes stared straight into the camera with an amused sparkle, while his face was set in an annoyed look. A look that only less than a handful of people could tell was fake. He was in a suit when the photo was taken, June recalled that they were going to a play that she had wanted to see. He had an arm wrapped around her with a hand resting on her hip.

She was smiling in the picture. A dark blue strapless dress that looked black with soft felt flowers designs. A hand on his, her hair done up with soft curls hanging just over her bare shoulders. Later that night she had revealed to him that she was pregnant.

A humorless chuckle escaped her. She looked back into her cup, watching the steam twirl in random patterns. She remembered him being so nervous at the thought of him having a child. But, he was also excited. He had wanted to become a father, a great father. He wanted to be better than his father, to have the ability to provide Jack with everything he dreamed of. He had started working more and more, even though he already was a millionaire. Sadly, he became so engrossed in work that he had become just like his father. Hardly spending anytime with June and Jack when he had been born. He wasn't even there for the birth though he did show up afterward apologizing profusely.

She waited until Jack was a month old before giving the father a choice. Stop working so hard and actually be a father and fiancé, or she would leave him. His choice is obvious now. He probably forgot she told him that she would be leaving, he never had that great of a memory when it came to social situations.

For 15 years he had been all over the news. Constantly drinking and a different woman laid in his bed almost every other night. Even though she was disgusted and angry with him still for choosing work over his family, she couldn't fully blame him. His first child and terrified of doing something that would harm all of them. He was afraid to even hold Jack the whole time they were there. And she still cared and worried for him.

She petrified when she heard over the radio that he had been kidnapped during his stay in Afghanistan. She cried when he returned to the US relatively safe. She watched the conference he had demanded on arrival. She didn't know whether to believe him when he said that his company would stop producing weapons. It had been a month since then and so far his words seemed true.

June stood and left to get the phone from its charger in the hall. She had thought long and hard about what she was about to do, and she could only hope that she was given a chance. She typed in a friend's number and waited,

"Virginia? It's June…I need to ask you something."

**I hope you liked it. You will find out who the father officially is, but for right now I kinda want to see if anyone can guess Jack's Dad right now. I'm gonna write the next chapter after I publish this one, and will put the second chapter up tomorrow if I get atleast one review. Please review, I'm not gonna lie, I'm desperate for feedback.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you all who reviewed for the last chapter! And thank you for those who added this story to their favorites and alert list! The answer for my question was Tony Stark (which is kinda obvious since the first words of this chapter are his name).**

**This chapter was beta'd by my friend Nocturnal Tears.**

**Please enjoy this chapter and remember that I don't own anyone or thing to do with Transformers and Ironman. I only own the plot of this story.**

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Tony Stark sighed heavily and stood to stretch his back out after sitting hunched over for hours while working on one of his car engines. Lately his thoughts kept wondering back to his ex-fiancé and son. He blamed it on his capture and Yinsen. That man talking about his family while they built the prototype and during their breaks got him thinking about them. How were they doing? _Where _were they? Who did Jack take after the most? Did the kid have any of his qualities or quirks? Honestly, the only thing Tony wanted Jack to gain from him was his last name. Everything else could be June's. And finally, why didn't he just _listen_?

He would never admit it out loud, but he knew he was in the wrong with their relationship. Same with every other relationship he was in. And knowing June, she wouldn't let him back into their lives due to his drinking and sleeping with various women. God only knows what diseases she probably thought he now had.

When she had first moved away, it was to her parents' house. He tried to get her to come back, resorting to even apologizing in front of said parents. She told him that Jack would do better in a single parent household than being in a home where his own father practically ignores his existence. That comment angered to the point of leaving and not looking for them at all until Pepper had calmed him down enough to think. But by that time, June and Jack were long gone. Finally, Tony just gave up looking.

And now, after the kidnapping and Yinsen, Tony was thinking about trying again. It would be easier now with JARVIS, and with Jack being a teenager, he was bound to have a profile somewhere online.

"JARVIS."

"Yes sir?"

Tony wiped his hands on an old oil rag, "I want you to look up either a Jackson Stark, or Jackson Darby on all well-known social websites."

"I will start the search right away sir. Estimated time for completed search: 15 minutes."

"Alright." Tony then began to work more on his new suit, the calibrations in the flight stabilizers were off a little bit and still sparked every now and then.

"Sir, I would like to inform you that Ms. Potts is calling."

Tony grunted in acknowledgement, "Tell her I can't talk right now."

"She is worried from the fact that you have been down here for close to three days. She is also wondering if you would like for her to bring you something to eat or drink."

Tony didn't look up from his crafting, "Big Mac meal, large Dr. Pepper."

There was silence for a moment before the Ai spoke again, "She will be here shortly with your meal. She also stated something about a Ms. June calling her and asking about you as well."

Tony narrowed his eyes at that. Why would she be calling? Unless she was going to give him another chance. Tony hummed softly to himself. He was so happy at the thought of finally spending time and getting to know his son, but another part of him was still pissed. How could June just leave him like that? And how the hell did she hide her tracks so well?

Too focused on his thoughts, he almost didn't hear JARVIS conclude the search.

"There are 8 correct identifications of Jackson Darby on face book sir. Would you like to see the results?"

"Make sure to filter the results for a 16 year old boy and the mother is called June Darby."

"…There is one male Jackson Darby that is of 16 years with a June Darby listed as mother. Would you like to view his profile?"

Tony kicked the desk to wheel his chair close to the center of the room, "Sure, why not." His heart was pounding harder than ever despite his tone.

A hologram of the web page appeared in front of him. First was a picture of a boy sitting on a street bike. He was laughing, probably from something the person behind the camera said. Tony instantly began taking in the features of the boy. Black hair and blue-gray eyes and lightly tanned skin that he had inherited from June. The facial and body structure was all Tony's though.

The bike was some make that Tony wasn't aware of. Maybe Jack had built it. That had Tony practically swelling with pride. His son must've gotten his smarts as well. The chassis was navy blue and the small front fender that was showing was light pink. Not really the color combination Tony was expecting from a teenaged boy, but it went together nicely in a weird way.

Tony started looking at the slightly personal information that Jack had put about himself. Jack was going to Jasper High School in Jasper, Nevada. He also didn't know what he wanted to be nor what to study once he got to college. He was part of a science fiction club with three other children. Miko Nakadai, a 15 year old foreign exchange student from Japan, and Rafael "Raf" Esquivel, a 12 year old boy that was a freshman at the same school.

'_Only two friends according to this…_' Tony leaned back in his chair, '_Oh God, he got my personality!_' He stood and went back to his paper work desk, "Where is Jasper, Nevada? I've never heard of it."

A map of Nevada showed up with several brightly lit circles to show the major cities and darker circles to show the small towns. One of the dark circles was blinking, "Wow. That is seriously in the middle of nowhere." He poked the dot and more information showed up, "How the hell can they live there? The closest town is some rinky-dink 'Elko', and that's 50 miles away!" He zoomed in on the town map, "Doesn't even have a mall. I don't think it has an airport either!"

JARVIS stopped him before he could get into a rant about the town, "Sir, Ms. Potts has arrived and is coming down the steps."

"Alright. Get rid of the map and profile." He glanced at the stairs to see Pepper coming down in a hurry with a bag of McDonalds and a large drink in her hands.

"Already done sir." The images disappeared instantly.

Pepper pushed in her personal password with her pinky, a skill she had to master when working for Tony. She rushed in, almost hitting her shoulder on the door when it was opening, "Tony, you will not believe it! June called me earlier and was asking about you."

He leaned his hip against the desk and crossed his arms over his chest, "So?"

"Tony, I know she left you, but even you agreed with me that your behavior was the reason."

"I did? I remember thinking something along those lines, but now that I think of it, she didn't need to move away and completely disappear from my radar. So I acted like my father for a bit. It didn't give her the excuse of moving away and not letting me see my son. My mom stayed with my Dad the whole time."

Pepper sighed and shook her head, "We had gone over this before Tony. Yes, your mom stayed with your dad, but back then it was almost unheard of for a woman to leave and divorce her husband and take the children away. Also, do you really think she would have wanted you anywhere near them with your reputation of partying, drinking, and having a different woman in your bed every night?"

Tony sent her a small glare. He refused to admit that he was wrong. Though, if he were to try and get June back, then he would definitely have to. Maybe he should send some flowers to her. She always did love some kind of lily that he couldn't remember right now, but it's the thought that counts.

"I'm not going to see them right now."

Pepper went wide eyed at his statement, "What? Why not?"

Tony strolled by her and began working on the flight stabilizer again, "16 years of not seeing them and no contact at all and suddenly she just calls and wants to see me? No thanks. I'll make her wait like she did me."

He waited for Pepper to leave the room with a frustrated huff before speaking up again, "JARVIS call Rhodey for me. Also, send a message to my pilot and the airport. Tell them that I want to go to Elko, Nevada tomorrow, and to have a rental car there waiting for me."

"With pleasure sir."

A telephone ringing filled the room as Tony began snapping his fingers and clapping between snaps.

"_Tony?_"

"Hey Rhodes! I have a plan to check out a possible new company building, and I want you to go with me. You free tomorrow?"

"_Tony, why are you looking up new land to build on? You stopped making weapons, so what's the point in it?_"

Tony quickly brought up a website about Elko, "It's a growing town that is focused on mining and agriculture. I might be about to spruce up the place and make their jobs easier."

"…_And why do you need me to go? You've done it on your own before._"

"Because…you're my boyfriend and I want your opinion on the place before I bought it to make sure it's alright with you."

"Tony!_ I am not your boyfriend!_"

Tony tilted his head and smirked, "But you are a male and my friend."

"_I-!_"

"So will you go with me?" Tony went shut the small welder off, "You know I won't take no for an answer, so you may as well say yes."

"_Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you._"

Tony shrugged, "That's because you love me. Meet me at the airport at…"

JARVIS answered, "You pilot informed me that he will have your jet ready by ten in the morning tomorrow."

"Meet me at 10 a.m. tomorrow, okay?"

"_Alright Tony. You better be there on time this time!_"

"Don't worry Rhodes, I will. Scouts honor!"

The call was ended and Tony was grinning. He was going to see June and Jack tomorrow. He needed to get things ready, apology gifts for both of them flowers and...something that Jack may like. He didn't really have a clue what the kid liked. His profile was a little out dated since in his wishlist he said he wanted a motorcycle and he already has one. Jack's gift would be postponed until Tony knew more about him.

"JARVIS, I need a few more things."

"What are they sir?"

"An order to a florist in Jasper for a bouche of lilies, and where exactly does June work?"

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**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I also hope that I got all the characters and personalities right. Please review and critique if you wish and I want to thank you all who reviewed for the last chapter! I never thought I would get that many reviews for one chapter. It makes me so happy!**

**The next chapter might be up tomorrow, or sometime this weekend.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Enjoy this chapter!**

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CH3

Much to Rhodes's surprise, Tony was actually on time for once. His friend staggered passed him mumbling about how he couldn't sleep last night or something. Rhodes didn't worry too much about it since Tony was known to stay up until the sun begins to rise, and then going to sleep. If he even remembers to. He began to worry a little bit when Tony had refused to drink any of his large variety of alcohol on board. He never thought that Tony Stark could say no to liquor when offered some.

"Hey Tony, you okay?"

Tony looked up almost like he had been startled, "Yeah, fine. It's not like I'm nervous about meeting the two of them again."

Rhodes narrowed his eyes, "Then why are you acting worried?"

"I'm not acting worried." That tone. Hurried speech and slightly higher pitched. Tony was lying.

"You're acting like it." Rhodes leaned forward in his chair, "If we are just going to look at some property, then why are you worried and nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

"So you admit that you are worried."

It was Tony's turn to scowl at him, "I'm not worried, nor am I nervous."

"Your leg is twitching Tony. You only do that when you are nervous or anxious." Rhodes pointed to said leg and Tony forced himself to stop moving, "So what's up? You said that you were meeting two people again. If you've met them before then why were they able to keep you from sleeping last night?"

The two men kept staring at each other, just waiting for the other to back down. After a little under five minutes, Tony caved.  
"I'm going to Jasper, Nevada and I wanted you to come with me."

Rhodes sat back, "So what, you're scared of some town?"

"Not the town! The two people that I'm going to meet there." Tony pouted and stared out the window.

"And who would they be?"

Now Tony had a sheepish look in his eyes and mumbled something that Rhodes couldn't hear.

"Excuse me?"

He mumbled again, louder this time.

"Tony…"

"June and Jack."

Rhodes stared at Tony in confusion, "I'm sorry, but did you just say 'June and Jack'?" At Tony's nod, Rhodey groaned, "Tony!" He rubbed his hands over his face, "She's going to file a restraining order on you! Didn't she say to leave her alone?"

Tony nodded again, "Yes, she did. See? This is why I didn't tell you where we were going. I knew you would freak out about it."

Rhodes glared at him, "This is not freaking out Tony. It's…I don't even know the word for it, I'm so pissed at you!"

"Come on, it's not that bad. She called Pepper yesterday and said she wanted to meet with me.". Tony waited for a minute for Rhodes to respond, "Are you really that angry? Would it help if I said that I was sorry, cause I really am...Rhodes? Rhodey?"

Rhodes closed his eyes and sighed through his nose. This was going to be a long flight.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I apologize for the shortness of it and any OOC-ness. But I'm unsure of which episode of TF:P to start it off, so I ask of ya'll to choose. Which ever episode has the most people for it wins. It has to be in the 1st season and after the "Crisscross". Nocturnal Tears suggested Rock Bottom, and I do like that episode, but it wouldn't be fair if I didn't ask everyone that reads this.**

**Metal Attraction**

**Rock Bottom=1**

**Partners**

**T.M.I**

**Stronger, Faster**

**One Shall Fall**

**One Shall Rise parts**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for being a little late in this update! Rock Bottom had the most votes, but I didn't have that episode recorded, so I couldn't go back and watch it, and it just started playing from the marathon thats running tonight. It's 11:40 here, two hours passed my usual "late night hour". I go to bed early and wake up late lol**

**Thank you all that reviewed, alerted, favorited, and pm'd me**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

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CH4

Jack stretched as he exited Knockout Burger. Arcee was waiting for him in her usual spot in the parking lot. She had phoned him mid-shift and let him know that they were going to go on a scouting mission with Bulkhead and Miko when he got off work. As much as he liked the thought of exploring, whenever Miko was involved, things tend to go worse than planned.

He sat on Arcee and placed his head on her chassis and sighed heavily.

"Long day?" Arcee asked in an amused tone.

"Like you wouldn't believe. Another teen decided to be a smartaft and insult me through the mic and then ran off with his food without paying. Not to mention a surprise four page essay on the family tree for my science class."

Arcee's engine hummed to life, "Sounds like a hard day. Put your helmet on, I don't want your mom yelling at me for your safety negligence."

Jack laughed and did so, "We wouldn't want that."

Arcee started off towards the highway, zigzagging her way through traffic to get to the highway. She stopped at a red light, tilting slightly so Jack could rest his foot on the ground and make it look like he was balancing the two. A car coming to the light in the opposing lane caught their attention.

It was a retired police cruiser. But it wasn't the car itself that got their attention. It was the two men. The passenger was sulking and spouting comments that were causing the driver to grin and shake his head, which made the passenger angrier.

The passenger glared at the driver, but stopped and stared at them. Jack shifted his weight in the seat and looked away from the car, and Arcee tensed and straightened up a little. That man had recognition in his eyes, but she couldn't recall ever meeting him.

Tony stared at the bike and rider. That was Jack's bike. That was Jack! He sat up straighter and gripped the dash. Rhodes looked over at him,

"What are you doing?"

"That's Jack!"

"What?" Rhodes looked over to the opposing lanes, "On the bike?"

Tony was almost bouncing in his seat with excitement, "Yeah."

The light turned green and the bike and rider took off up the highway entrance. Tony held back the urge to open the door and chase after him, or make Rhodes drive after him. He sighed and slouched back into his seat as their light turned green and Rhodes continued down the road.

Rhodes glance at him, "Come on, we still need to get to the florist and find June. Then you can see Jack."

Tony grunted and closed his eyes. His heart was pounding harder than ever. He was so close to seeing them both again. He opened his eyes once the car turned off and saw that they were at the florist. Tony stepped out and walked inside, ignoring the looks that other customers and the cashier were giving him.

A group of girls were whispering and giggling. The topic was probably him and they probably thought he couldn't hear them. Or they wanted him to hear so that he would pay attention to them. He couldn't help but feel great relief when he saw the bouquet that JARVIS had ordered. It had red rose buds and blooming white lilies, as well as some other light blue flowers that he thought the name had something to do with babies and breathing.

He paid and thanked the man before hurrying back to the car. Rhodes was smiling and laughing at him, he just knew it. By the time he got in and managed to maneuver the bouquet around so the petals wouldn't be bent or ripped off, Rhodes had calmed down to chuckling.

"You look ridiculous Tony."

"Not another word. Just drive."

Rhodes grinned and pulled out of the parking lot, "To the hospital right?"

Tony nodded and slouched back into his seat again. His pride felt damaged just a bit from holding a large vase and flowers in his lap. He was a man dammit! He shouldn't be driven to this.

It took 10 minutes for them to reach the hospital. If Tony thought his heart was hammering before, that was nothing compared to now. He silently feared that it might bump into one of the shrapnel pieces that Yinsen failed to find and remove. They parked close to the entrance, which was good incase June decided to go after Tony.

Both men stepped out and went inside. There weren't many people in the waiting room, and it was much quieter than their own hospital. The nurse at the registration was messing with her phone and holding in her laughter.

Rhodes walked up before Tony, "Excuse me ma'am, can we see Ms. June Darby?"

The nurse sat up straight and placed her phone down, "May I ask why?"

"We're old friends and want to meet. She had called us yesterday about meeting, but we think she forgot she had to work today." Rhodes answered.

The nurse looked at him with a disbelieving look, "I'm sorry, but I can't call her here because she had just got called into a case. Also, I hadn't been informed of her possibly having guests coming for her today, and she works almost every day and never misses her days. I find it hard to believe that she suddenly 'forgot'."

She glanced at the bouquet Tony was still holding and sighed, "But I guess I can bend some rules for now. I'll send her a message that she has two men in the waiting room for her if you both are willing to wait for probably an hour, depending on the case type. Or if you have somewhere to be, you can leave the bouquet here and I'll tell her that she had something dropped off here for her, to keep it as a surprise."

The two men looked at each other. Tony spoke up, "I don't believe we have anything else to do."

"We'll wait for her. Thank you." Rhodes stated, turning to look back at the nurse who nodded and started typing up a message to June. Both went picked two seats in a corner of the room. Rhodes leaned back and placed his feet onto another seat, closing his eyes to rest from the short-but-seemingly-long drive. Tony placed the flowers down at his feet and looked around the room. There was a small family, a father and two young girls, waiting probably for a birthing mother. Two other people were sitting next to each other. A young woman, probably just out of her teens, and a slightly older man. Both were sitting in bored positions with annoyed expressions, though the man had some worry in his face.

Thirty minutes had passed when a woman in a nurse's scrubs stormed through the room. Familiar black hair and blue eyes, and an older face than what he remembered, but he knew instantly. She didn't at anyone in the room, just stared at the doors with fury and worry in her eyes and face. Her hand was bringing her cell phone to her ear as she marched out into the parking lot.

Tony elbowed Rhodes to wake him before leaving the room after her. He barely opened the doors before he heard her,

"What do you mean you don't know where he is? RC, I don't understa-…why were you four in an abandoned mine? I understand that Jack went in to look for Miko, but why would she even run in there?"

"June?" Tony hesitated to step closer. Part of him began to worry as well. The only time he remember a mother acting like this was when he had gotten hurt as a child and his mom couldn't get to him. Another part of him was a little jealous. Who was this RC?

She ignored him, probably didn't even hear him over her constant questioning. He repeated her name louder. She ignored him again. He stepped closer and reached a hand out to touch her shoulder.

"June."

She whirled around, startling him to pull his hand away, "Not now Tony!" She turned her back to him and went to speak but froze. She looked over her shoulder at him with wide eyes.

June listened to Arcee saying that Jack would be fine, that he was resourceful and probably was already making his way out of the mine when he couldn't find Miko. She closed her phone when Arcee closed the connection and turned back to Tony, "What are you doing here?"

Tony tilted his head, "What am I doing here? Pepper told me you wanted me to come over. Aren't you happy to see me?" He looked over his shoulder to see Rhodes coming out of the hospital, "I brought Rhodey with me too."

"Yes, I did tell Pepper that, but she also called me last night and told me, word for word, what you said." June narrowed her eyes at him.

"Did she now…hmm…maybe I shouldn't have said that. Why do girls always stay together even when in separate states?" He muttered more to himself, but June still heard. Rhodes walked to his side and shoved the flowers at him. Tony grabbed them and held them to June, "I brought you flowers…? I remembered that you liked lilies, couldn't remember which though."

June stared at the flowers for a moment, then looked at him, "Who ordered them."

"What do you mean who ordered them? I did of course."

"One, you had never remembered I like lilies before. Two, you hardly ever order something yourself. I would say Virginia did it, but she doesn't know your hear. So it was either JARVIS or James…"She looked at Rhodes, "Judging by his reaction, it was JARVIS."

Tony pouted, "Okay you caught me. JARVIS ordered them, but I really did remember about the lilies." He gestured to the flowers, "Do you want them? Or do you just want me to leave?"

June sighed, "You're lucky you can still pull off that pout." She took the flowers from him and walked to her car, "You're also lucky the doctor and head nurse told me to take the rest of the day off. The only case we had was a scheduled C-section."

Tony and Rhodes followed her to the car. "Who were you talking to on the phone? And what happened?"

June froze, not helping with Tony's theory of this 'RC' being another man, "It was a friend of Jack's. They met up with two other friends near an abandoned mine. One of them ran in and the others, including Jack and RC, went after her but they were separated."

"Shouldn't we go and find them then?" Rhodes spoke up before Tony, "Why were they even near one to begin with?"

"Strangely enough, doing research on the stability of old mines." June answered, "We can't do much with the signal being crap out there. RC said she would call me once she gets out, regardless of whether the others are with her or not."

Tony frowned at this. June put too much trust in this girl. But then again, he couldn't say much against this girl. Judging from the tension in June's body, she was more than worried and was almost at the point of having a breakdown.

"Come on. It's passed lunch time. Have you eaten yet?" At June's shake he continued, "Anywhere you want to go?"

June turned to him and shrugged, "In case you haven't noticed, there's not very much here. The closest thing to a good restaurant is Pizza Hut."

Tony smirked sarcastically, "Oh I don't know if I can enter a Pizza Hut, might kill me." Rhodes rolled his eyes at that, but it made June smile.

All of them began catching up with each other's lives when they had entered the same car. The men followed June home so she could put the flowers inside and so they could leave her car there. June was happy to hear about the promotions Rhodes had received, and about some of the things she didn't hear from the news about Tony. It was hard for Tony to talk about what happened in his life during the past 16 years, the news followed everything he did and accomplished. Not all of them were good either.

They stayed at Pizza Hut for a while after they had finished eating. Mostly wasting time and trying to keep June and Tony from worrying too much as the time ticked bye without any call from that 'RC'. When June's phone began to ring, a tension that they weren't even aware of melted from the air. She was silent the entire phone call, but from the slump of her shoulders, it was good news.

"Alright, I'll see you soon Jack." June hung up and stood from the table, "Jack is fine. Says he only has a few scrapes from a trip, but nothing major. He's almost home now."

Tony pushed at Rhodes, since he was on the inside of the booth. Rhodes grunted and glared at him, making sure to take his time in getting up. Tony groaned and pushed him again. June grinned and shook her head at them, almost like old times.

Tony hurried to her side, even opening the door before she could reach for it, "So um…do you think that I, uh, could meet Jack when we get to your house?"

June stopped just outside the door and raised an eyebrow at him, "Do you think I would say no?"

Tony shook his head, "No, no. I just didn't want to intrude if you didn't want me to."

"Tony. Even if I _did_ say no, you would find some loophole and interact with Jack anyways." June smiled, "But it's a good thing I'm not telling you that you can't, isn't it?"

Tony smirked, "Yeah."

Rhodes exited the restaurant at that moment, heading to the car. June and Tony watched him for a second before following him. Tony reached over, brushing a fingertip over June's hand, and retreated before she could even register his touch.

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**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I apologize for OOC-ness and no scene of Jack and Tony meeting. It wouldn't come to me tonight. But it will be in the next chapter most definitely, no way I can avoid it.**

**Please review! Ideas and opinions will be much appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the slightly late update. My english class has started again, so I need to focus on the essays and such. Anyways, thank you all that PM'd, alerted, favorited, and reviewed!**

**Enjoy!**

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CH5

Jack thought back to that day's events. He couldn't believe how lucky they all were, especially Miko and himself. They escaped with minor scrapes and bruises, along with a sprained wrist for Miko. His conversation with Megatron kept coming to the forefront of his mind. Did he do the right thing to leave the mech alive? Most of him swelled with pride with his decision. It was honorable, even though he didn't dig the Con out completely. A small part of him though nagged at him for doing that, like it wanted him to kill Megatron. That he should've when he had the chance. End the war for his friends.

It wasn't his war to finish.

"Jack?" Arcee interupted his thoughts, "Did you hear me?"

Jack blinked, "N-no. Sorry Arcee. Lost in thought."

"I had called your mom earlier."

"What did you tell her?" he asked slowly. He didn't really enjoy the thought of coming home to a distraught and worried mom.

"Just that Miko ran into the mine and we all got separated looking for her." Arcee stated as she turned onto Jack's street, "You should call her and let her know that you're alright. I hadn't called her, don't think she would've really listened to me. She barely did the first time. Don't mention anything about the cave in, or the Cons."

Jack chuckled and pulled out his phone, "Don't worry, I won't." He dialed in his mother's cell number and connected it to the bluetooth inside the helmet. "Mom? Hey, I'm just calling to let you know that I'm fine and that we all found eachother. Oh and I'm on my way home now, okay? Alright, love you, see ya soon."

The rest of the ride was silent until they reached the house. His mom's car was already in the drive way.

"That's weird. Mom was scheduled for a full day at the hospital." Jack stated as he climbed off and guided Arcee into the now opened garage.

"Who knows? Maybe she took part of the day off?"Arcee suggested, transforming once Jack had stepped a safe distance away to close the garage door. Jack mumbled to himself and opened the door that led into the kitchen,

"Mom?!"

When no answer came, Arcee activated her sensors, but the only two in the home was Jack and herself, "She's not here."

Jack was about to say something to her, but the sound of a car pulling into the driveway interrupted him. They waited silently, listening from the possible sound of transformation. Instead the engine cut off and three car doors opening and then closing sounded. Jack gasped and turned to Arcee, but she had already transformed back, leaving him to greet whoever was outside.

He ran to the living room, hoping to at least see who was there through the peephole. Right when he turned the corner, the front door opened revealing his mom and two men. He instantly knew one of the men, having seen him on the TV news and papers. Tony Stark. But what was he doing in Jasper, Nevada? Or anywhere near here? Jack couldn't think of one thing that could've interested a man like Tony Stark. And why was he in his house!?

"Uh...hi Mom." he greeted. The two men stood side by side, Stark was leaning back and mostly on his right leg while the other man stood stiffly, weight equally balanced with very minimum swaying. It reminded him of Fowler when he talked to his superiors. He must be in the military.

June smiled, "Hello Jack. How was your day?"

Jack shrugged, glancing between his mom and the men (mainly Stark), "It was going to be a 'same old, same old' day, but..."

June's smile became nervous. She took in a deep breath to try and settle her nerves, "Jack, this is James Rhodes," she gestured to the military man, who smiled and nodded.

"It's nice to meet you, Jack."

"Likewise." Jack responded hesitantly. Still wondering why they were here. Were they working for MECH? No, his mom wouldn't have brought them here. Unless she didn't know. Jack shifted his weight nervously. Just his luck for MECH to find his home.

Jack didn't interrupt his mom when she gestured to Stark and introduced them. He may have knew the man already through media, but he wasn't about to be rude to her. Tony glanced at June, almost like asking for permission, then stepped forward with a smirk and some weird glimmer in his eyes. Jack narrowed his eyes a bit at him.

"Rhodey, can you leave the three of us for a bit?"

Rhodes nodded, "Alright. I'll just be on the porch."

Jack noticed his mom tensing just slightly. Something was up. What could Tony Stark want to say to the both of them in private? How can he get his mom and himself to the garage before anything happened? With this being Tony Stark, he may have something up his sleeves that could get them before they could even turn.

June stood by Jack and placed a hand on his shoulder. Gently turning him to face her, "Jack, do you remember when you asked about your father?"

"Yeah? But what does that have to do with anything?" Jack asked in a confused manner. Something in his gut was twisting. He glanced at Tony again before focusing on his mom. He didn't like where this was heading already.

"Well…" June licked her lips nervously, "You remember how I didn't tell you much about him. It was because I was afraid that you would try to get a hold of him, and I wasn't sure of what his reaction would be to you. But also, I was afraid that you would start acting differently with knowing that your father was…_is_ a powerful man."

Jack's eyes widened and practically every muscle in his body tensed. No. No no no no no. It wasn't possible! There was no way that his mom fell for this man's charm and was left to fend for herself and a child! Why else would this man be here when she told him this though? He had no other reason to be in Jasper. He was this…_man-whore's son_?! That man probably threw his mother out once she told him she was pregnant.

Jack's knuckles turned white and his short nails dug into his palms. Never had he felt such an urge to just punch another being. He turned towards Tony and just looked at him silently.

Tony averted his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but he didn't get a word out when his cheek was met with Jack's left fist. Tony grunted and moved with the force to lessen the blow. He stepped out of Jack's reach. His cheek felt hot and sore already. When he looked back at Jack, he was met with a quick glare that made him feel worse than the punch, worse than the shrapnel digging into his chest.

June gasped and stared at her son, "Jack!"

She reached for him, but Jack turned and stormed to the garage,

"I'm going for a ride."

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**I hope you all enjoyed it. I had Jack act out what I felt like doing when my father just randomly showed up at my house after years of no contact. Please review and critique!**

**Nocturnal Tears beta'd most of this chapter, so if you find mistakes, those are the parts she didn't read =D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Next chapter! I'll try to get started on the next one later today after some sleep (1:15am) Thank you thoughs who reviewed, alerted, and favorited. I apologize in advance for OOC-ness, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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CH 6

Arcee sped down the empty streets. Her charge had urged her to hurry to take him out of the house. She didn't want to admit it to Jack, but she was eavesdropping on the conversation. She didn't know who this 'Tony Stark' was, she would find out soon though from either Jack or the internet, but she was strangely proud of Jack for his reaction. She may not have experienced her creator leaving or anything like that, but she had a feeling that she would've done the same. Or worse.

She slowed down after they had left the city limits. Pulling over and stopping before a small-to-cybertronians drop off. Jack practically threw off his helmet and leaned forward onto her handlebars with a rough groan.

"Mind telling me why we had to leave so suddenly?"

Jack sighed, "Sorry Arcee. I just needed to get out quickly. Mom decided to…surprise me with someone."

Arcee adjusted her side mirrors to look at him, "And?"

"Apparently he is my dad."

"You know who your father is now Jack. Shouldn't you be happy? Try to get to know him?"

Jack shook his head, "Yeah but he's," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Tony Stark. The century's billionaire and genius. Always on the news drunk, with a new and different girl that he's taking home to bed hanging off his arm, and a complete asshole from what I could see."

Arcee would've nodded her helm, "So which part are you upset about?"

"Other than my father being some jerk that makes Vince look like a saint, and him taking and ditching women left and right? I can't believe that my mom would sleep with a guy like that. And why would a billionaire like _him_ ditch a woman that he got pregnant? He probably left her the instant he found out so he wouldn't have to deal with a kid or something. Then after 16 years, he shows up and the only reason he would do that would be to ask forgiveness and wanting in my life. And mom's life too."

"Jack. I may not know exactly how you are feeling, but I think you should give him a chance."

Jack scowled, "Why would I do that?"

"Why did we leave Megatron and Starscream in the mine when we could've just as easily ended the war?"

Jack paused for a moment, "Cause Optimus wouldn't have finished them off like that."

"What would Optimus do in this position?"

"Give him a chance." Jack gazed out to the horizon, "But I just don't think that I can."

Arcee's engine rumbled almost silently, "Just try to Jack. You never know, you two may become pretty good friends."

She waited for his response patiently, figuring that this was asking a bit from Jack. She had to silently thank his father though. If it weren't for him, Jack wouldn't be who he was today.

"Alright. I'll give him a chance." Jack retrieved his helmet from the ground and got back on, "We need to go back so I could apologize then."

Arcee only laughed as she got back to the pavement and sped off.

* * *

Tony hissed through his teeth as June pressed a bag of frozen peas to his cheek. He was slightly peeved at Jack for punching him without waiting for him to speak. At the same time though, he was proud of his son for throwing such a good punch. The boy didn't look like he could put much power into it, with his slightly scrawny body. Tony also couldn't blame Jack, Lord only knew how much he had wanted to do it to his own father.

"I'm sorry Tony. I didn't think he would react like that." June lifted the bag slightly to poke at the sore flesh. Rhodes, who came back inside after he saw Jack take off, watched with a smirk on his face.

"Jack can sure pack a punch for such a skinny kid."

"It's fine, June. Rhodes, shut up. I should let Jack loose on you next time he wants to punch someone. See how you like it then." Tony's words were muffled like he had stuffed a small powdered donut between his teeth and cheek, "I should've expected that."

June frowned, "He still knows better than to do it. He's never punch someone before. Not even that Vince kid that tries to bully him."

Tony and Rhodes sat a little straighter. Jack has a bully?

June sighed, placing the frozen bag on the dining table, "He's not really the most popular kid in school. I'm not sure why this kid is picking on Jack, but apparently the football bench warmer doesn't need one."

"Bench warmer?"

"Yep. He keeps getting into fights with the refs and other players, no matter the team. The coach doesn't want to kick him off the team, so he just makes him sit out every game."

Rhodes snorted, "The coach and parents need to test him for steroids."

"And I agree." June laughed, "Sadly Vince's parents fight tooth and nail whenever it's brought up."

They sat in silence for a minute before Tony spoke up,

"Will Jack come back tonight?"

June nodded, "Yeah. No where else to go. Raphael's home is filled and Miko's host parents don't really enjoy sleepovers."

Tony gently grabbed June's hand from poking him again, "It's fine June, no need to poke it so much. What about that RC I heard you talking to?"

"RC? Hmm…she'd probably talk to him, but send him back here." June said with a smile.

Rhodes tilted his head, "What does 'RC' mean?"

"Remote controlled." Tony deadpanned. He grunted when June elbowed him in the ribs.

"What do you mean James?"

"I haven't met someone whose name is 'RC'."

June laughed, "No no, it's spelt 'a-r-c-e-e'."

"That's an interesting way to spell a name." Tony muttered.

"I think everyone has thought that once they found out how she spells it."

The rumble of the garage door opening cut off any replies. Along with the sound of a motorcycle engine. June stood and gestured for Rhodes to do the same,

"I'll go check on Jack. He'll probably want to talk to you alone, Tony."

The two met Jack in the hallway. He ducked his head and slowly walked towards them. He walked between June and the wall, wrapping an arm around her in a quick hug.

June returned the one armed hug and ran her free hand through his slightly tangled hair, "He's at the dining table."

Jack nodded and withdrew from her, continuing his way through the house. He found Tony rubbing his cheek at the table. He grimaced, not really feeling like apologizing, but knowing that he should. Jack silently went up and sat in the chair next to Tony.

Tony looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "That's your mom's seat."

"Yeah, well, I'll get out of it when she comes back into the room." Jack all but glared at him for a second before looking away and slouching in his seat. Tony made a mental note that he slouched just like him. Jack then sighed harshly and sat up straight again.

"Sorry I punched you. Shouldn't have done that."

Tony hummed and shifted his weight, "My fault. I should've expected it."

"I still shouldn't have done it."

"Why did you though?"

Jack shrugged, "I dunno. I just got angry, I mean…With every story I've heard of a single mother, it seems like it's always the father that leaves. I just figured that my dad, you, did the same thing. It doesn't help that the only thing I know of you is what I've heard and seen on the news."

Tony frowned. How could he explain to Jack that it was his mom that left without putting her in a bad light?

"Jack, I didn't want you two to leave." He caught Jack looking at him in confusion from his peripheral, "But in a way, I pushed your mom away. I wanted to be the best to provide to the both of you, but I got so caught in working that I didn't act like I should've. Your mom felt like she could raise you better by herself. She basically was already anyways, I'll admit that.

"But Jack, I do regret what I've done. I respected your mom's wishes and stayed away. She only called yesterday for me to come and meet you."

Jack nodded silently, thinking over Tony's words. It felt awkward talking to him, but he could feel a weight lifting off his chest and mind.

"So what now?"

Tony paused at that. He hadn't really thought _that_ far ahead. He had an idea though.

"How about I take you to Malibu for a bit?"

Jack snorted, "I have school. Can't just ditch it."

Tony smirked and gave Jack a smug look, "I can get you out of it."

"No, I need education." Jack almost yelled.

"Did you build that bike you've been riding around?"

Jack faltered. He couldn't tell Tony about the Autobots. Nor the Decepticons. He hoped Arcee wasn't listening in, "Yeah?"

Tony stood and stretched, "Then from what I see, you don't need it that badly. You'll be getting some education anyways."

Jack stared at him, mouth opening and closing a few times before he just shook his head. He doubt that Tony would be able to convince his school to give him a mini-vacation, much less his mom.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed it.**

**I've gotten some questions on whether Jack will be getting a suit. I'm still debating on that, and if I do decide to give him one, it will be awhile until he gains it.**

**Another question was on what time in the Ironman movies this story is. It's in the first movie. Tony has returned to America and has been in America for approximately 2-3 months, he had just started reconstructing his suit and is still doing some calculations and making adjustments to the look of it.**

**Tony will find out about Cybertronians. It will take quite a while for it to happen though. Like after Ironman 2 or Avengers and probably close around the Season 2 finale of TFP...like I said, it'll will be awhile before it happens.**

**Should Tony have Jack help test out the suit? Or should they work on the cars and other minor prjects just to get to know eachother more?**

**Please review/critique!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, sorry for the slightly later than usual update. My school term is coming closer to an end so I have more work to do -_- **

**Thank you those that reviewed, pm'ed, alerted, and favorited. It really inspires me to continue and makes my day each time I see them**

**Here is chapter 7, I hope all ya'll enjoy.**

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CH 7

Jack couldn't believe it. He was sure that he was sleeping with something or someone shaking him. He only turned his back to whatever was trying to awaken him. And when he finally woke up, it was to the feeling of his organs rising into his throat. He attempted to jump off whatever he was sitting on, but something held him tight around his hips. He flailed his legs and grabbed a hold of whatever it was around his waist. The feeling of falling went away quickly, which calmed him enough to take in his surroundings.

He was on a plane. Why was he on a plane?! Jack undid the seatbelt and rushed so quickly to the window, he almost rammed his nose into it. They were high above the earth, between layers of clouds. He looked at the cabin he was in, no one else was in it. A tremor went down Jack's spine. He did not like this. Not at all.

"Oh! You're awake." Jack spun around. A woman with blond hair stood there with what looked like a menu held in the crook of her arm. He figured she was a flight attendant if her uniform was anything to go by.

"Yes I am. What's going on and why am I on a plane?" Jack asked.

The woman smiled in an apologetic way, "Mr. Stark had informed me that he was taking you to his home. He said that you had nothing to worry about. Your principal, teachers, and mother had been informed of the situation."

Jack stared in shock, "What situation? My kidnapping?!"

Just then, Rhodes stormed into the cabin. He got one look at Jack, turned, and went back the way he came. Jack quickly followed after the man, ignoring the flight attendant.

"What the hell were you thinking, Tony!?"

Tony just looked up at in mild alarm for the sudden yell, "I don't know what you mean. Can you clarify?"

Rhodes pointed behind himself to Jack, who had just entered, "Why is Jack on the jet?"

Tony leaned over to look around Rhodes to Jack, "Oh, I was taking him home."

"Without his knowledge from what I heard!"

"Hey," Tony looked insulted, "I offered for him to come and he didn't object to the idea."

Jack walked over to stand next to Rhodes, "Stop talking about me like I'm not here. I didn't agree to it either though. I told you I still have school, and what about Mom?"

"I called your principal and he said it was fine, just have to email your teachers to get any assignments that you'll miss. As for June, it's…" he looked at his watch, "about nine o' clock for her, so she should know by now."

Jack tilted his head, while Rhodes shook his head slowly and asked, "What did you do?"

"I left a note." He took some pride in their looks of disbelief, "One thing I've found out today, Jack, is that you and your mom can sleep through a war until you're ready to wake up."

Jack blinked. No sensible adult would just leave a note about taking a mother's child away. Even if it was the father. Though his inner child took a weird joy in it. He was finally getting out of Jasper, Nevada!

Rhodes seemed to take to the news worse. He looked like he was holding back the urge to strangle Tony.

"As soon as we land, you're calling your mother." He didn't even look at Jack when he said that. He then went into the cabin that Jack was sleeping in without another word.

Tony went back to reading on what looked like a really advanced ipad. Jack stood in the aisle, not wanting to go back to where he was seated in fear of possible rage, but also feeling uncomfortable to sit near Tony.

"You can sit down you know." Tony tilted the pad to the seat in front of his, "It's kind of awkward having you just standing there staring. It's also advisable to sit down since we will be landing soon anyway."

Jack quickly took a seat and tightened the seat belt until it was snug, causing Tony to laugh,

"We're not landing that soon."

"Having the seat belt on makes me feel better." Jack muttered. He didn't know why, but he wasn't going to complain.

Tony nodded, "Never been on a plane before, huh? What woke you up anyways?"

"To the feeling of everything in my body going into my throat." Jack deadpanned.

Tony laughed at that, "The turbulence got you then. I used to hate that feeling. It's the same as when you're on a roller coaster though."

Jack shrugged, "I've only been on the cheap ones at the carnival."

Tony looked up from his reading, "Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"I need to take you to an amusement park or something." Tony mused, "Probably Cedar Point."

After he got no reply for a full minute, he decided to try another topic, "So you built that motorcycle?"

Jack tensed and looked out the window, "Some of it."

"The engine looked like a CB750. How'd you find that?"

"I uh…found it in a junk yard."

Tony hummed to himself, "It looked pretty new and clean for a junkyard find."

Jack started, "Y-yeah. The frame it was in looked new too. It was just damaged beyond repair. Looked like it went against a train, it was so twisted."

Tony nodded, accepting the answer for now. He didn't like the way Jack had seemed to have to come up with an answer. He didn't think Jack was the type of kid to steal anything, and it wasn't that uncommon to have a good find in junkyards.

They sat in silence. Rhodes could be heard cursing faintly in the next cabin. Jack continued to stare out into the clouds as the jet descended smoothly. Tony typed away at the pad until a ping was heard and the clouds outside the window cleared away to show Malibu.

They have arrived.

To say that June was angry was an understatement. She held it in well, but Jack and Tony could both tell she was pissed. Apparently waking up to find a note taped onto the fridge saying that her son was going to stay with his dad for a week was not the best way to start a day.

Rhodes had left them to June's fury, choosing to just go home before he was dragged into the conversation and have Tony annoy him anymore.

Jack found himself sitting in the passenger seat of Tony's Audi R8, his right hand gripping the side of the leather seat for some comfort as Tony ignored the speed limit. Sure he and Arcee did it plenty of times, but he trusted Arcee better. And they were always speeding through a straight highway with no one around.

Tony was speeding through turns, though they weren't drifting, it was faster than what Jack was comfortable with. Jack took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, if he just thought of something else maybe the speed wouldn't bother him. It didn't help, with each turn and slope in the road, it felt like he was in turbulence all over again.

"So what are we going to do when we get to your house?" Jack glanced over to Tony.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows and thought for a minute, "I guess first we should have lunch or something…I would cook, but then I might burn down the kitchen again, do you like Chinese? I can order some take out for us. Then we can start working on some of my cars if you want. One of cars need the clutch replaced, the engine could probably go for some maintenance, and it would be a good way to get to know each other. After that I have a project that I'm working on, we can work on the numbers and ideas for it together."

Jack blinked, "Wow, that's a lot."

"That's only for today!" Tony laughed, "There's plenty more we can do. An amusement park, I guess shopping for clothes too, I didn't pack your clothes, so we'll need to do that today too. Oh, and you have to meet Jarvis, Pepper, and Happy."

"Okay," Jack nodded slowly. If he was going to stay here for one week and Tony had planned this much for one day, and it was already noon, he may go back home burnt out, "Shouldn't we go shopping first then? So I can have something to change into after working with the car."

Tony hummed, "Yeah, that would make more sense. I should call Pepper and Happy to help out."

Jack shook his head, "But all I would get is T-shirts and jeans, why do we need help? It's just clothes."

"And I agree, but Pepper and Happy would love to meet you. And what better way for people to meet and get an impression than clothes shopping."

"This is like a job interview."

"Yep."

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**I hope you enjoyed it, I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.**

**I also put a poll up for the question I asked last chapter...I think, please put your answer for the question there, it will help me greatly in the long run.**

**Sorry if Jack is out of character. I'm trying to have him act more like a teenager than in the show.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello! Sorry it took so long, with having to finish my English class, and now having no excuse to get on the laptop (It's my step dad's) I have to sneak on when he isn't home and make sure he can't find out that I've been on lol.**

**The poll is still open guys! Go vote if you haven't already! :D**

**Thank you every one that PM'ed, reviewed, and favorited me and the story!**

**Hope all ya'll enjoy the chapter!**

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**Day 1**

Jack didn't know what he was thinking of when Tony told him he would be meeting 'Pepper' and 'Happy'. At first, he thought of dogs. Tony didn't seem like a cat person, but at the same time, dogs needed more care than cats. So maybe fish, but they probably wouldn't have been named seeing how they most likely wouldn't have lived long enough in Tony's care.

Then he heard Tony say they would be helping in clothes shopping. So they were human. Jack guessed that they would both be male from the names, and that 'Happy' was either a happy guy or it was a nickname like calling a big guy 'Tiny'.

When they arrived at the mall, Tony texted Pepper and Happy to let them know which mall they were at. Jack went straight to the building and decided to stay in the JCPenney for the shopping.

Tony quickly skimmed through the men's clothing and saw nothing that he thought a teenaged boy would like. What teen, regardless of gender, like polo shirts? He turned to Jack to ask if he wanted to go to the Hot Topic or some other store instead, but stopped when he saw that Jack already picked out three different shirts.

"Jack, are you really going to wear those?"

Jack glanced at the shirts he was hanging on his arm, "Yeah?"

Tony walked over and took one of the shirts and looked it over, "Seriously? It looks like that one kid's shirt. Danny Fenton I think it was."

"Danny Fenton? You mean from that cartoon?"

"Yeah."

Jack shook his head slowly, "You still watch cartoons?"

Tony raised an eyebrow and smirked, "So do you if you know who I was talking about."

Jack looked away quickly, feeling his neck and cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He grabbed the shirt back and walked away to another display. For a while he went about looking at the clothes displays with no trouble from Tony. He used the time to think back to his friends and mom.

What will his mom do once he gets back? What are Miko and Raf and the Autobots thinking with him gone? Did his mom tell them that his father came and kidnapped him? She probably put it in a nicer way. Oh God, what was Arcee thinking?! She was probably in the garage when he was taken. Would she be angry at him for not telling her, even though he didn't plan on this vacation? How did she react to find him not in the house or at school?

Jack groaned and rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Yeah, we all feel like that after spending some time with Tony." A woman said from beside him.

Jack jumped, landing with his feet spread like he was about to run. A woman in semi-formal clothing stood in front of him. She was pretty, had natural beauty to her. Long, straight strawberry-blonde hair brushed back to reach her shoulder blades. She had a leather messenger bag hanging from one shoulder, and she was smiling while holding out her right hand,

"I'm Virginia Potts. If Tony said he was introducing you to 'Pepper' that's me. You must be Jack."

"Y-yeah." Jack meekly shook her hand. Who did she sneak up on him like that? And with high heels?!

She nodded, "It's nice to finally meet you. Sorry for scaring you, you were really deep in thought."

Jack cleared his throat, "Nice to meet you too. And yeah, I was just thinking about my friends and what their reactions were to me suddenly disappearing."

"I'm sorry for how Tony decided to bring you here. He may be a genius, but he doesn't think _everything_ through like he should." She sighed and shook her head, "I don't know where he gets it from."

Jack shrugged, "You don't need to apologize. Mom already ripped him a new one when we landed. I think she might do it again if he decides to come with when I have to go back."

Pepper smiled and looked over her shoulder, "Well, I'll have Happy introduce himself before we get started on shopping."

"I thought that these would be alright." He gestured to the four shirts and three blue jeans.

Pepper glanced at the clothes, "They probably would be if you weren't staying with Tony. Knowing him though, he'll be dragging you to an event or two while you're here."

Jack frowned, his bottom lip sticking out just enough to be noticed, but not enough to be a full pout. Pepper shook her head slightly. A Stark trait.

The man that was talking to Tony came over and offered his hand, "Hello. You're Jack, right? I'm Happy, or Hogan. You can call whichever you want."

Jack shook the man's hand, "Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you."

"You as well." Happy said with a smile.

The group ventured from store to store. Happy and Tony picking out shirts and jeans that were placed into a pile while Pepper would go through the pile and pick out the clothing she thought were good, already organizing them by what would go well together. Jack found out quickly that he wouldn't be able to choose what he liked with Tony and Happy near. Pepper would ask for his input every now and then.

Soon, they made it to Men's Wearhouse. Pepper forbid Tony and Happy from going inside, saying that Jack should be allowed to choose some clothing that he liked on his own. She reassured Jack that she would only be there to talk to the salesman and make sure they wouldn't try to persuade him to get something that would be unnecessary.

Jack stared. He never needed to get a tux before, only having gone to events and interviews with khaki or black slacks, nice shoes he never wore, and a clean button up shirt. What events would he possibly be going to that he needed a tuxedo?

He quickly chose a black suit, knowing that he wouldn't be able to keep a white one clean for long, and made a mental note of his favored style for later. A white waistcoat and tie. He was disappointed that there weren't any clip-on ties, it meant that he needed to learn how to tie a tie. He had a harder time choosing between the shirts that he would need to wear. They had every color in a rainbow, and more! A few different colors had caught his attention more than the rest. A deep crimson red, and a royal sapphire blue were two of them.

"Pepper, I don't which color shirt to get." He whispered to the woman who was standing at his side. He heard her hum and look at the shirts.

"We can get both so you won't be wearing the exact same thing if you are brought to two events."

Jack blinked and tilted his head. He should've thought of that. He grabbed a red and a blue shirt that looked like they would fit and turned to Pepper, "We done now?"

Pepper laughed lightly and shook her head, "Your measurements need to be taken so that they can make a suit. Which one did you like?"

Jack pointed to a black suit in a corner. A nice smooth and plain black cloth with a high thread count. He didn't really pay attention to the number of thread, but went for how it felt. It wasn't itchy and scratchy like he had imagined suits to be, and the inside was lined with a fake silk.

A store helper quickly herded Jack onto a small stool and told him stand still. A measuring tape was pulled out and the man began taking the measurements. Jack didn't know how to react, almost freezing up at some of the places the tape needed to be held. He was grateful when the man let him hold the end of tape when it needed to be at his crotch.

Finally, it was over. Pepper practically marched out of the store with Jack dragging his feet behind her with his hand shoved in his pockets, his eyes staring at the ground, and a light blush creeping over his cheeks and nose.

"Come on Jack. It wasn't that bad." She said with a laugh.

Jack shook his head and grumbled to himself, '_then why do I feel violated_?'

Tony clapped his hands and stood from the bench he and Happy were sitting on, "Let's go eat!"

The man walked towards the food court with an enthusiastic pep in his step. Happy and Pepper glanced at each other before following. Happy, with a grin and roll of his eyes. Pepper, with a roll of her eyes and groan.

Jack watched them for a moment. One thought going through his head on a repeat, but he pushed it aside and ran to catch up to the group.

* * *

When the group got to Tony's house, Tony had showed Jack the guest room that he would be sleeping in. They dropped off the bags, and Tony began giving a tour. A short and basic tour. He showed where the bathrooms were, where his room was in case of an emergency, "though nothing would happen as long as JARVIS was online".

JARVIS had taken that moment to introduce himself to the boy. The sudden voice had startled Jack at first. He had heard some reports and such about Tony having an AI in his home, but he never honestly believed them. Thinking that it was probably just some story for the women being interviewed to have a few more minutes of fame.

The father and son duo stayed in the garage after it was shown to Jack. Tony had given Jack his own code to remember so that he could come and go as he pleased. They tinkered with an older car. A Ford Flathead Roadster, from what Jack could remember from his brief interest in older modeled cars.

Tony spent the time watching Jack to see just how much of his smarts his son had gotten. He couldn't expect too much due to not being there as Jack grew up, but he was curious on how much was purely hereditary. He showed the different parts and explained their use, and where and how to install the pieces correctly. He noticed that Jack had some experience and knowledge, since he was making so comments and suggestions that could make the car better.

Soon, the two moved on to the Cobra. It only needed some oil changed and some coolant. Tony also found out after some small talk that Jack didn't have his license yet. Tony decided then and there that he would teach Jack how to drive before he had to leave.

JARVIS interrupted the two to let them know when it had reached 12 a.m. Jack took that cue to leave for bed. He bid Tony and JARVIS a good night before the doors closed and he went up the steps.

Tony leaned back, arching it to pop several places. The day had been good in his opinion. Some awkward moments, but that was to be expected. Tomorrow he would have Jack drive around a bit in the Cobra. Tony narrowed his eyes a bit as a thought crossed his mind. If Jack didn't have a license yet, and he was driving around on his street bike…

Tony groaned and face palmed. Great, his son's been breaking laws.

"It appears that you have given Mr. Darby more traits than you wanted, Sir."

"Shut up JARVIS. Bring up the Mark II project folder."

* * *

**Next chapter will be Day 2, and Jack is going to get some driving tips from Tony. I feel sorta sorry for everyone :D**

**I'm planning on having that party happen on Day 3 or 4, that's when Jack and Obadiah are going to meet. If you have any ideas of what Tony and Jack can do with each other, let me know and I'll try to make it work.**


	9. Chapter 9

**It has been a while since my last update. I'm sorry about that, I couldn't find the inspiration to write. But now I am back and have my own laptop from Christmas =D (I got a laptop and a metal slinky). I believe this will be the longest chapter yet? I don't know, I haven't really looked lol**

**Thank you everyone for your reviews, favorites, alerts, PM's, and ideas you have given me. I wrote a little extra at the end to hopefully make up for the absence.**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Jack walked down the steps while rubbing his knuckles against his eye and yawning. It was seven in the morning, and the only reason he was up was because JARVIS had woken him up. He stopped at the door and looked through the glass wall. Tony was slouched over on a desk, his back to Jack. In front of Tony was a hologram of what looked like some kind of futuristic full-body armor.

Jack blinked and let out a low whistle, "That is pretty awesome looking."

He pushed in his passcode and made a bee line to Tony. Or tried to. There was scrap metal, wires, and trash lying around that Jack didn't want to step on in case they were important. As Jack got closer, he could hear Tony lightly snoring and a small puddle of drool forming on the desk. Jack chuckled and tapped Tony's shoulder when he was close enough.

Tony started with a snort. He looked around with sleep heavy eyes, blinking owlishly as if he didn't remember where he was. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head, "Damn what time is it?"

"A little after seven." Jack laughed when Tony jumped from his seat and spun around to face him, "So what's with the hologram? Is it a new weapon?"

Tony glanced over his shoulder at the Mark II hologram, "No no. I'm planning on making flight stabilizers for an individual. This will be the armor that will protect them from the wind and air pressures." He rubbed the back of his head, "I was planning on us working on the numbers and calculations together."

Jack nodded, "Alright. But…are you giving this to the army or the government?"

"I don't know."

"Well, I don't think you should." Jack thought back to the Decepticons. If the military had access to this, many people may die if the Decepticons ever made themselves known to the world, "I mean, the government might use it for other purposes than what you're building it for."

Tony stared at his son in surprise. He didn't think that Jack would be too concerned with giving the plans to the military. He smiled and rested his hand on Jack's shoulder, "Don't worry, I won't."

Jack shifted his weight nervously. Tony's hand was comforting, but it felt heavy and unneeded, "So what are we doing today?"

"I keep being told that I need to lay low, so I guess we can stay here for today, unless you want to go out." Tony silently hoped that Jack would want go out and sight see, "We can work on this," he gestured to the hologram, "It will probably take a bit."

Jack looked at the hologram. It would be cool to work on it, but he wasn't a genius! What if he did something stupid and that would hurt one of them? What if he screwed up so badly that Tony would have to start over completely?

Tony smiled, "Don't worry about messing up. I have back up files of back up files of this project." He watched Jack look at the ground and shuffle his feet. Tony frowned slightly, he needed to help Jack get some confidence as well, "Hey, trust me. There is nothing that you can do that will ruin it."

Jack gave a small nod and looked up, "Alright. Where are you on the project?"

"About half way through it. I'm currently building it, but I still need to work on the numbers. It has the flight power and capabilities of an F-22, and with it being only a suit, we need to adjust it so it's not too powerful and not...hurt the person wearing it."

Jack blinked, "It could possibly kill whoever wears it, right?"

"Well..." Tony shift his weight, "Yeah, it could. Lose of control can cause a crash, the G-Force can make the blood got to your feet and you'll pass out, crash, or die from the temporary blood loss. There are more possibilities, but we shouldn't worry about that."

"Okay? What do you want me to do then?"

Tony thought about what needed to be done. The support frame needed to be bent and welded together, the wires and electronics then needed to be done, then the sheets of metal as the armor. He would do the wiring, couldn't afford a mistake in that. The armor would need to be attached to the wires to make it easier to fly. Jack could weld the frame together, with illustrative directions from JARVIS.

"The frame needs to be welded. JARVIS will provide you with directions and illustrations to help put it together. You've welded before right?"

"Some what. Not much though. And it was with those older models where you have to hold the metal stick and feed it manually." Jack grimaced at the memory. His grandpa had taught him one day, but Jack decided he didn't like to weld after getting shocked almost every time he put the stick near the gun.

Tony hissed through his teeth. He didn't have a great experience with those models either. It's why he always used his soldering pen and a self-feeding welding gun. Judging by Jack's expression, he didn't have a lovely first impression on welding.

"You won't get shocked with this one." Tony grabbed some scrap metal, "You'll use these to practice and get the hang of it before moving onto the suit. Dummy, go get my welding helmet." Said robot whirled in response and went towards a toolbox covered with parts and tools.

Tony pulled the welding machine over to a work bench and gestured for Jack to come over, "All you need to worry about with this is to make sure that you have a good connection. The metal doesn't need to be fully clean, but it can't be rusted up. If it is, then you would have to grind the rust away. The trigger has two functions. It feeds more wire through when there isn't a good enough connection." He pressed the trigger, and copper wire started to grow from the nozzle, "When it makes a connection, it will begin welding. But you need to keep the wire short too. The weld job would be horrible otherwise.

"Never kink up the hose line, the wire needs to feed through it and if the hose is kinked, the wire is kinked and becomes a pain in the ass. You'd need to open the machine and pull the wire out, find the kink and cut the wire. Too much wire is lost that way. Easy way avoid that is to keep the hose behind you."

Jack nodded, "Sounds pretty easy."

Tony chuckled, "You'd be surprised how many times you will have to remind yourself of it before doing subconsciously. Now, this clamp needs to be attached to the metal your welding. It won't work if you don't, and make sure it also has a good connection. If the metal you're working on it too small, you can lay it down on a larger piece and connect the clamp onto that piece instead."

Dummy came back with the helmet dangling by the strap. Tony grabbed it and handed it to Jack, "Let's see how you do."

Jack sighed, grabbing some gloves he saw lying around. He tightened the helmet on his head and put the gloves on before Tony handed him the welder. He glanced at the clamp and saw that Tony had already placed it on one of the scrap pieces. Jack leaned forward, hunching his back slightly so he could see over the nozzle and at where he would weld a nice looking bead. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding in and pressed the trigger.

Tony laughed lightly when Jack jumped. Not from being shocked, but from the loud buzz and crackle the welder made. Jack looked over his shoulder at him, most likely glaring, and went back to work. The buzzing crackle lasted longer this time. Tony tapped on Jack's shoulder to get his attention, "Make two beads that have a gap between them, then start filling it in. Use small circular motions when you connect the two."

Jack nodded, pausing to correct the helmet when it moved too far down his forehead. Tony waited, for Jack to straighten up before moving forward to look at his work. One small bead was separated from the rest. There was the first one he had made. He also saw a long bead, it was a little jerky looking. The last two sat parallel with half of the gap filled in. Pretty good, Jack could use more practice, but for his first time using this kind of welder...

"Very nice," Tony grinned, "Just do some more beads, then try to connect two pieces of scrap metal together. If that goes well then you can move on to the frame work."

Jack smiled behind the mask. This was actually more fun than he thought it would be. He noticed that with every bead line that his confidence in welding grew and he stopped jerking in surprise from the initial buzzing crackle the welds made.

He had to stop for a moment to stretch his arms and get the feeling back into them. Also to stretch his back since he had been hunched over the whole time. He lift the face mask, and blinking against the now blinding lights. Tony was across the room, muttering to himself and to JARVIS. He had another hologram up and was pointing at and writing numbers and variables. The way Tony was breezing by the numbers and figures was amazing. It looked like the man could do complex algebra in his sleep!

Jack cleared his throat to get Tony's attention. Sadly, Tony was too far into the formula that he didn't hear Jack, but JARVIS instantly responded.

"Are you finished, Mr. Darby? Do you wish to start on the frame?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah that would be nice."

Skinny robotic arms came from the ceiling, and with them were various pieces of steel. They were laid neatly before him on the table. As they frame pieces were set down, Jack noticed that it was organized and already resembled a human shape.

"Thank you JARVIS." Jack said and pulled the face plate over his face again. AS he set to work, he faintly heard JARVIS reply

"You're welcome sir."

**Extra Bit**

Jack stood frozen next to his father. Did he really bring him for this? Sure it was a nice hangout spot for teens and young adults, which made Jack wonder why the hell Tony was here, and how he knew about it. But seriously? Jack thought that hanging out with a dad was fishing or hunting, and working on home projects or cars. He never thought that a father would take his own son out to teach him how to pick up girls.

He could see people staring at him, and Tony. He instantly didn't like this attention. If any of them even come up to him it would be purely for the fact that he entered with Tony Stark and that Tony was talking to him. That reminded him that Tony was still trying to give him pointers.

"Having a somewhat of a low or husky voice helps with it too. And since I have a lower tone of voice, and so does your Mother's father, you should have a low tone too. Since you're 16, your voice still has time to go lower.

"You could act like yourself true, but at times you need to act differently for different girls. Look at them and use what they wear, what they talk about, and how they act. Then you can hypothesis on what kind of guy they would be more interested in talking to. And judging by your clothes and voice tone, look for a girl that dresses a little more innocent than the others. Has more skin covered, go for the girl that looks like she's been forced here by her friends, or looks sort of out of place.

"Trust me, you are almost an instant friend if you can make their night even a little less boring. Tell a few jokes, try to get them to smile. Once they do, tell them that they have a nice smile. I guarantee you that they will blush and smile a lot more and become a lot happier."

Jack nodded slowly. It sounded easy, but there was still a heavy feeling of doubt in his gut. He was going to make a fool out of himself!

Tony pushed Jack forward, "Go on. Don't worry you'll do just fine."

"How do you know that?"

Tony gave a smug smirk, "Well you have my blood in your veins. There's no way you'll fail."

Jack grumbled an insult before walking into the crowd of teens. The crowd parted for him almost like the Red Sea. He ducked his head and chewed on his lower lip. This was so awkward! Everyone was staring at him, and he could hear them whispering about him already. He took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. All he had to do was talk to a girl, get along with her, then return to Tony, and go home. That's all.

He tried to think back to the tips that Tony was telling him. His mind came up with nothing. His nervousness was making his brain come up short in thinking. He walked through the crowd to get to a wall and lean against it. He needed to calm down. Just pick a girl, hopefully by herself, which seemed unlikely since every girl he had ever been interested in seemed to travel in a pack. He glanced around, hoping to find someone.

He spotted a nice blond girl with a nice even tan. He could tell that she bleached her hair, the roots were showing just enough to tell. He took a step towards her.

Tony watched as Jack walked around the crowd, moving from group to group and introducing himself. Only to leave again his head lower and shoulders slumped more than before. He frowned when everyone would part ways for Jack and just stared like he was some rare creature they had heard in fairytales. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. He could see Jack's confidence, what little he already had, diminish quickly. He stepped forward to get Jack to leave once he saw Jack's shoulders start to rise like he was defensive about something.

Jack just wanted to give up. But he couldn't look like a quitter in front of his dad! But then again, he probably was just showing what an embarrassment he was in social places. He went back to the spot on the wall that he had claimed his. This whole thing was stupid. Why the hell did Tony even want him to go through this? Jack sat down with a frustrated sigh.

"Hey, what's up?"

Jack looked up startled that someone was even talking to him. A girl crouched down in front of him. Her hair was dyed a reddish orange, gray eyes, partially tanned skin with light freckles that were scatted up her arms, chest, cheeks, and nose. She definitely looked like she didn't belong here. Not with her old cowboy boots, ripped and faded jeans, and two tang tops. She was heavily chested, but it somehow seemed to fit her.

"I'm Kristen. And you are…?"

"O-oh! Um, I'm Jack." He held his hand out for a shake that she readily accepted.

She grinned and stood up, "Nice to meet you Jack. You don't look like you're getting along with anyone here. Come on. I'll introduce you to some of my friends."

Jack nodded and stood slowly. Kristen grabbed his arm and pulled him to a corner where a few people were talking. There were two girls and one boy.

Kristen pushed him so he was with the circle of people. She took a spot on the other side of it and started talking to one of the girls. All three of Kristen's friends looked like they were Hispanic.

The girl that Kristen wasn't talking to looked at him. She had long perfectly straight black hair, tanned skin, and brown eyes. She almost looked like she was of mixed race between Mexican and Asian. She had a light blue shirt with a panda on it, a black and white checkered board jacket, dark blue jeans, and black and white checkered canvas Vans shoes.

"Hi, I'm Chibi. I guess Kristen just grabbed you and pulled you over, huh."

"Sorta like that. I'm Jack by the way."

The guy smiled, "I'm Jose." He had darker skin with light skin marks. He also had black hair and brown eyes. He wore black rimmed glasses, dark blue skinny jeans, and a regular white and green sleeved T-shirt. He also sounded like he had a slight lisp.

Jack nodded to him and offered his hand, "Hi."

Jose pointed to Kristen and the other girl, "Obviously you've met Kristen, but that's Olivia."

Olivia wore either a black or dark blue jacket, a black T-shirt that had some texts and a picture that was covered partially by the jacket so Jack couldn't read it. She wore black and white sneakers and long jeans that wore torn on the bottom. She also had a brace on her right leg. Curly black hair and brown eyes, she looked more Hispanic than Chibi and Jose. She also looked like she didn't want to be there.

"Don't let her anti-social behavior fool you. She just doesn't like crowds and loud places."

Jack nodded absent mindedly. This group were the first to actually want to know his name, and didn't ask about Tony. They asked him about where he was from, his favorite things were, and why he came on his own. When he said he was alone, Kristen replied that Tony doesn't count cause he's an adult and wasn't with Jack when he came over. He even got Olivia to talk to him slightly, even if most of her replies were hard to hear, since she grumbled some of them. He found out that Olivia was a hardcore Sonic the Hedgehog, Blazblue, and Homestuck fan. Kristen liked almost any game that she could play with her friends. Jose and Chibi seemed to be more '_I'll play it, but I'll suck at it_' gamers.

Tony walked over and tapped on Jack's shoulder, "Hate to break this up, but we need to go before Pepper and Obadiah hear that I'm out."

The group frowned, but Kristen and Jack exchanged numbers before he left. Minutes later, he received four different text messages from Chibi, Olivia, Jose and Kristen. He smiled and saved their numbers. At least he made some new friends.

* * *

**And there you have it. The extra bit was an idea from tg-darkside. Thank you for giving me the idea.**

**Also, thank you meggs929 for your PM, you really did make me get my butt in gear, reminded me that it has been awhile since my last update. I'm sorry that it wasn't out earlier.**

**That group of friends that Jack met is actually my group of friends from high school. And his welding experience is based on mine. Only he wore jeans instead of cotton pants that almost caught fire.**

**Based on the poll, Jack is going to get a suit! The poll is still open, don't forget to vote if you haven't already!**

**Please review, I really do appreciate them.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here it is! Chapter 10!**

**I hope you will enjoy it, and thank you everyone that had alerted, favorite, and reviewed.**

* * *

Jack watched as Tony, and somewhat Dummy, worked on a piece that would form a boot. His eyes kept drifting to Tony's chest. He could just barely make out what looked like blue lights leaking through the dark wife beater Tony was wearing. He tried to push it off, thinking that it was just the lights from the work table.

"Next part. Up here." Tony tapped on a piece of the boot, and Dummy adjust the magnifying glass higher for Tony, "Got it, stay put…nice."

Dummy continued moving the glass higher when Tony readjusted his seat, "You...you are of no benefit at all. Move down just a bit. Never mind, I got it."

Dummy then started moving the glass down, causing to stop and pull back so the robotic arm wouldn't hit his own as he soldered a small area, "Oh I'm sorry, am I in your way? Alright, up. Screw it don't even move." Tony soldered the last piece of that boot and put the pen away.

Jack's eyes widened when, at Tony's touch, the back of the boot opened and separated like it was waiting to be put on. Tony then looked up and smirked at Jack's bewildered expression, "Wait 'til it's all put together."

"It probably would be the coolest thing I'll ever see." Jack agreed, silently thinking that it maybe be second best compared to the Autobots though. He caught the circular lights again on Tony's shirt, this time it was more pronounced. It looked like there was an object pushing out slightly from Tony's chest.

"Alight, let's test these out!" Tony placed the boot on the ground next to its opposite. Both still open and waiting. Once Tony's feet were fully in place the boots closed around his claves, securing him in place.

Jack faltered after Tony, deciding on if he should ask about the object or wait until Tony told him.

"Okay, let's do this right." Tony said backing up on the small testing area they had previously set up, "Start mark: half meter, back to center." Tony sighed, trying to rid of his nerves, "Dummy look alive, you are standby for fire safety. You, footage."

He turned on the equipment with a small device on his belt. They hummed to life as he shifted his weight prevent himself from getting cold feet, "Turn on hand controls. We're going to start off nice and easy with only 10 percent thrust capacity to achieve lift. And 3…2…1."

Jack jumped at the roar of the blast. He almost didn't notice Tony gaining lift, only to flip backwards and slam into the slanted part of the wall.

"Oh my god!" Jack ran over behind the toolboxes. Tony just laid there coughing, trying to get air into his stunned lungs, "Are you alright?"

Tony didn't get a chance to respond before Dummy started spraying him with a fire extinguisher. His coughing worsened, now that he accidently breathed in the thick cloud. He heard Jack telling Dummy to stop and that there wasn't a fire.

Jack helped Tony sit up slightly, never noticing that his hand was splayed out on the object in Tony's chest, "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah." He coughed again, "Didn't expect that."

Jack chuckled, "Guess we gotta start small and work our way up."

Tony nodded in agreement. After a minute of Tony deep breathing, he realized that the Arc Reactor had gained Jack's attention, "And I guess I need to tell you about that thing."

Jack's neck and cheeks reddened in embarrassment, "You don't have to you know."

"No, it would be easier." He sat up more, "It's called an Arc Reactor. You may have heard of the one that's inside Stark Industries."

"Yeah. Was in the news for a while."

Tony sighed, taking a glance at the clock. Close to midnight. He tried to stand, but the boots made it hard to bend his ankles the way he wanted them to. Jack grabbed his arm and shoulder to help pull him to his feet, "Thank you Jack. I think it's time for us to go to bed. You can go on up, I'll clean up."

Jack frowned, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It's no problem at all. Hardly a mess really, so I'll just take the boots off and head on up too." Tony smiled. He knew it looked forced when Jack's frown deepened.

"Alright. If you say so."

Tony watched Jack leave until he couldn't see him anymore. Then he sat down on the nearest chair he could find. He rest his head in his hands, pressing his fingertips into his temples. A headache was coming on, and he could still feel phantom pains in his chest from when Yinsen performed surgery on him. Tomorrow he would tell Jack about the shrapnel and of Yinsen.

The next morning, Jack didn't know what to expect. He woke up to the sound of the doorbell ringing. He just groaned and rolled over to go back to sleep, but JARVIS had other plans it seemed. The AI informed him of the time and weather before stating that Tony was waiting for him at the dining room table with breakfast.

Jack slowly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He didn't get a good sleep last night since questions about the Arc Reactor refused to stay in the back of his mind. He put on a pair of loose fitting pants and made his way downstairs. He grinned at the sight of Tony trying to organize the three boxes of Pizza Hut pizza.

"Pizza?"

Tony looked up with a grin, "Yep. I have meat lovers, cheese, and barbeque." He gestured to each.

Jack shook his head, aiming straight for the barbeque and cheese. He didn't like the meat lovers pizza. The sausage bites always felt weird on his tongue, "So what brought this up?"

"I figured it would be a celebration of sorts since we got the boots working."

"Wasn't that much of a success. You were blasted into the wall." Jack said through a small bite of pizza.

Tony shrugged, "Still gained lift and that's what we were aiming for wasn't it?"

Jack paused, "I guess so. Still need to work on it though."

"We'll work on the stabilizers next so I can use those to help." Tony finally sat down in the chair next to Jack, "I also wanted to talk about the Arc Reactor since we didn't get to last night." He stopped Jack from speaking up, "No. I need to talk about it, and I think that you should know about what happened. I don't know if the man that lead the group that kidnaped me is still alive. And if it gets out that you are my son, then they most probably will go after you.

"Now, I was out giving a presentation of a new weapon to the military. It was over and done with, and we were heading back to the air strip when we were ambushed. All three of the soldiers that were in the same vehicle as me were killed almost instantly and the vehicle in front of us was blown up. I figured out that it was my weapons being used to kill to soldiers when a shell landed in front of me when I went for cover. It had the company name on it. Before I could do anything, it blew up and shrapnel went into my chest and abdomen.

"I can vaguely remember waking during surgery. The group had kidnapped another man, Yinsen, and they had him try to get the shrapnel. He managed to get all out of my abdomen, but he couldn't reach all that were in my chest. These shrapnel were barbed and created to continue digging into the flesh until what or whoever had them died. Knowing this, Yinsen had to create a magnet out of whatever he could find in the cell and what was provided to him. When I fully gained consciousness, I found that I was hooked to a car battery, and that battery and magnet in my chest were the only things keeping the shards from reaching my heart and killing me.

"After that Yinsen and I were ordered to make more rockets, the kind that I had just given a presentation on. Instead, I created this miniature Arc Reactor so I wouldn't have to lug around a car battery everywhere I went. They found out that we weren't really doing what we were ordered to and Yinsen was almost going to be killed, but I convinced them that I needed his help. Together we built a prototype of what we are now creating."

Jack stared at Tony in shock. It was hard to believe that Tony went through all that. But at the same time, he could believe every word of it. He had no doubts that MECH would be doing the same thing if they were publicly known. Hell they probably were doing it, only to people who were considered nobodies. He silently thanked Yinsen for saving Tony, if he hadn't, Jack would never have met his father. His mother probably would've told him who Tony was to him when they heard the news of his death, and then he would've only had his mother's stories and the media to go by.

"What happened to Yinsen?"

Tony sighed and shook his head, "He died. The program for the suit was too slow. He grabbed a gun from a terrorist that died from one of our C4's and ran ahead to give me time. I found him, but he didn't even last a minute when I did. Just had enough time to tell me his family was dead and tell me to get out and find mine."

"Would you have looked for Mom and me if he hadn't told you that?"

"Of course I would've. He just...gave me a jumpstart." Tony said with a sad smile.

Jack nodded, poking at the half eaten slice. He wasn't in the mood to eat now. He stood and threw his slice away before coming back and giving Tony a one armed hug, "Well...I'm glad you did look for us, and sort of kidnapped me."

Tony smiled, tucked his head in and took a deep breath, relishing the hug. He placed a hand over Jack's. He stood quickly after Jack pulled away and started herding Jack to the steps, "Go get dressed, we'll get the stabilizers done today so that we can try the whole suit out tomorrow if everything goes alright."

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, sorry it's on the small side.**

**I was wondering on if anyone would want to draw a picture of their favorite scene or a scene that they can see happening.**

**Next chapter will most likely be the one where Jack and Obadiah meet.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the wait everyone. I have been stuck on how to exactly put the Autobots and the kids back into the story like how a lot of you readers wanted. I did put them in this chapter, but maybe not the way people were hoping :/**

**I felt guilty with the long wait and kept adding to the chapter to make up for it when I have been able, which added to the waiting time, and made me feel even guiltier. Here it is!**

* * *

"Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. Jack is on medical and for lack of another person here, Dummy is still on fire safety. If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you for Jack's college fund."

Jack laughed lightly, "Don't worry Dummy, he's bluffing."

Tony snorted, "I genuinely don't know. All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with one percent thrust capacity." He paused for a moment, "And three, two, one."

Flames and sparks instantly came out of the gloves and boots, successfully pushing Tony off the ground in a balanced manner. Occationally sparks and burst of blue flame would come out, but it didn't affect the flight.

Jack smiled wide and let out a whoop, "Finally!"

Tony kept watch on all of the parts, making sure that they were working correctly. He smile at Jack's excited yell before he rotated slightly to the left so Dummy was behind him. The boots and one glove went out causing Tony to land heavily, while the last glove sparked and sputtered, but still had enough force that Tony had to back up so he wouldn't fall backwards. It went out soon after.

"Okay." Tony turned around slowly, ignoring how his legs felt like lead and jelly at the same time. He faced Dummy when he heard the drone's hydrolics working and found the nozzle of the fire extinguisher aiming at his face, "Please don't follow me around with it, either, cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down. If something happens, then come in."

"Well with most of your limbs wrapped in wires, and with them sparking every now and then..."Jack shrugged, "That might just happen."

"Thanks Jack. Real confidence booster."

"Just saying."

Tony sent him a half hearted glare, "And again, let's bring it up to two-point-five. Three ,two, one."

The thrusters started immediately, lifting the man up higher. He couldn't help his limbs jerking in shock at the feel of the force that was keeping him from the ground. Tony tried to balance himself when the boots started moving him backwards, but over compensated and his hands started pushing him forward. He just barely noticed that the gloves were pushing him around as well, and before he could correct it he was on the other side of the garage.

"Okay, this is where I don't want to be."

Jack smiled at the expression on Tony's face. He never thought he would see the cocky man so nervous and startled. He watched as Tony began drifting towards the cars.

"Eeeey-aoh! Not the car, not the car-Ee-yikes!"

Jack grumbled as Tony started heading to the desks, scattering all of the paperwork, "And there goes the papers we need to organize."

Tony stopped himself from going completely over the desks, and headed back to where he started, laughing nervously. He almost knocked the camera down as he went by, "Could be worse. Could be worse. We're fine."

He finally managed to straighten his limbs at his sides so he now hovered in one place. He swayed slightly as his legs kept wanting to bend from the pressure. The thrusters weakened and finally cut off, letting him drop the remaining two feet. Tony looked at Jack and gave a shaky grin, his muscles already felt all worn out and wobbly. He glanced at Dummy to make sure he wouldn't be sprayed. But when he looked, Dummy brought the extinquisher up.

"Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah!" He stepped back and ducked a little, pointing at the machine like a parent would a disobedient child or pet. He turned back to Jack who was chuckling at him and Dummy.

"Yeah. I can fly."

"Somewhat."

"My first time flying, it's expected." Tony went to clap his hands together but then stopped so he wouldn't smack the gloves together, "JARVIS, let's suit me up."

Tony stood in the largest clear area in the shop, trying to ignore his aching muscles and stand completely still as machanical arms descended from the cieling and began attaching the suit to him. It felt weird feeling the extra weight being tightened around him, but for it to have little effect on his movements. He placed the mask over his face.

"JARVIS, you there?"

"At your service, sir."

"Engage Heads Up Display." Instantly readings and codings flashed up. Measuring distanced and shapes of objects in his view, as well as zooming in and giving him more detailed readings.

"Check."

Tony moved his head around, checking to see if the readings would follow what he was focusing on and not just his head movements, "Import all preferences from home interface."

"Will do, sir."

Tony took a few steps, waiting patiently for the AI to upload itself to the suit. He glanced at his son who was gawking at the suit, "Awesome?"

Jack quickly closed his mouth, just now noticing that it had dropped, and nodded. He knew that if Miko were to know of this, she would be so jealous. He was even feeling slightly envious that he probably wouldn't be getting a suit like this at all.

Tony turned his attention back to JARVIS, "So what do you say?"

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready."

"Can we start the virtual walk-around?"

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment."

Tony smirked, "Do a check on control surfaces."

"As you wish."

Jack watched as the different layers of armor began shifting and moving fluidly to test for any complications. Blue light would shine through spaces between the claves and the ribs when the platings separated far enough. He liked the blue since it reminded him of the Autobots' optics, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would look like if the light were red.

JARVIS' voice sounded outside of the suit, "Test complete. Preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."

"Ah...yeah. Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check, and start listening in on ground control."

"Sir, there are still terrabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is ah-"

"JARVIS, sometimes you got to run before you can walk."

Unbeknownst to Tony, JARVIS' side of the conversation was still being broadcast into the shop for Jack to hear.

"Wait. What? JARVIS! What is he doing?!"

Before he could get a responce, Tony had activated the thrusters and took off through the car exit.

"It seems Mr. Stark has chosen to test out the flight capabilities of the suit."

Jack couldn't help but snort, "I can see that. Can I listen to his side of the conversation as well?"

"Sadly not, sir. For security purposes, Mr. Stark has made it so that his side of any communication between him and myself cannot be shared."

Jack frowned at that, "Can you patch me through to him then?"

"Mr. Stark and yourself have not completed that level of communication in the suit yet."

"Of course." Jack took a seat at one of the desks and crossed his arms, "So I guess I'm supposed to just wait here then?"

"I am afraid so, sir. I will inform him to return to fix the cimmunications problem. Sadly, wether he will listen or not..."

"Yeah." Jack sighed and tilted his head back. He wondered how long it would be for Tony to return. Was anything going wrong in the sudden flight?

He only had to wait for 15 minutes before Tony came back. Even though it didn't go exactly the way Tony had thought it would, and scared Jack nearly half to death. Who would've thought that a half ton metal clad man would fall straight through the ceiling, a piano, one floor, and onto a car that would be totalled in stopping his fall? Though Jack had to laugh when Dummy out of no where turned around and began spraying Tony with the fire extinguisher.

**OoO**

Tony kicked a creeper out of his way to release some frustration. He had just gotten out of the suit half an hour ago after finally flying with little problems. He glanced at the Cobra that he had sadly totalled, that was going to be a sore spot for him. Not that he couldn't go and buy another one, but still.

He absent mindedly grabbed a cup of coffee that had been left on the table for him. He hardly noticed that it still had some steam coming from it. But then noticed the brown paper wrapped box that the coffee was actually on. He stepped back and looked at it, reading the little post-it note on top.

_From Pepper._

Confused, Tony flicked the note off and began ripping the paper. Surrounded by a glass case was the first arc reactor he had built. The very same one that he told Pepper to destroy. It was resting in a perfect molding in stainless steel, connected to a little stainless steel podium that served as the cube's base. On the excess frame surrounding the reactor was engraved '_Proof that Tony Stark Has a Heart_.'

Tony tilted the box for a better look and smiled fondly at it. He would need to find a place to put it where he would always see it.

**OoO**

"Notes. Main transducer feels sluggish at plus 40 altitude. Hull pressurization is problematic. I'm thinking icing is the probable factor." He shifted slightly, wincing as his shoulder throbbed. He didn't think that he would actually begin hurtng so badly on the same night as the flight. But then again, he did fall almost completely through his home.

"A very astute observation, sir. Perhaps, if you intend to visit other planets, we should impove the exosystems."

Tony turned his chair around to look at some of the other monitors that were currently surrounding him, "Connect to the sys. co. Have it reconfigure the shell metals. Use the gold titanium alloy from the seraphim tactical satellite. That should ensure a fuselage integrity while maintaining power-to-weight ratio. Got it?" He took a gulp of a green protein shake that Jack had made him before heading to his room.

"Yes. Shall I render using proposed specifications?"

Tony turned back to the original monitors. He couldn't exactly imagine what color combinations would look good without actually seeing it before, "Thrill me."

"_Tonight's red-hot carpet is right here at the Disney Concert Hall,_" the TV's volume turned up as JARVIS began the render preview process, "_where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighter's Family Fund has become the place to be for L.A.'s high society._"

Tony blinked at the TV, "JARVIS, we get an invite for that?"

"I have no record of an invitation, sir."

Tony picked up a spare mask that had formula's etched into it. He looked through the eye holes to the TV, placing it down when the reporter mentioned his 'post traumatic stress' and bit his bottom lip in thought. Maybe he should surprise all of them by showing up.

"The render is complete."

"A little ostentatious, don't you think?" He said with a smile, spinning around to pour some more of the shake into his glass.

"What was I thinking? You're usually so discreet."

Tony stopped and stared at the hot rod. He did like the color red. Would that go with gold? Sometimes he hated being artistically challenged, 'Tell you what. Throw a little hot-rod red in there."

"Yes that should help you keep a low profile." JARVIS was quiet for a moment, "The render is complete."

"Yeah, I like it. Fabricate it. Paint it."

"Commencing automated assembly. Estimated completion time is five hours."

Tony stood from his seat, looking at his watch. He figured that he and Jack could go to party for a bit, it was only ten o' clock, "Don't wait up for me, honey."

Tony hurried out of the garage and to Jack's room. He knocked rapidly until he got a responding groan. Guess Jack was already asleep, "Jack! Get that suit that Pepper picked out on! We're going out!"

Jack pressed his thumb and index finger to his eyes to try and stem off sleep, "What? Why?"

"We have a party to go to, let's go."

**OoO**

Before Jack knew it, he was dressed up in the tuxedo he thought he would never wear, gripping onto the leather seat of that Audi R8 that Tony loved to drive like a maniac in. He was zipping through traffic, uncaring about the wet road conditions. Luckily they made it without incident.

Jack practically jumped out of the car when they stopped for a valet driver to take the keys from Tony who was walking next to Jack in an instant. They walked through the crowd, ignoring people for the most part. Tony nodded and waved to a few people to keep appearances up.

Jack quickly hurried his pace when a woman with bleach blond hair came up to Tony while twirling her hair, "Hey, Tony, remember me?"

Tony continued to walk beside Jack, using his longer legs to his advantage, "Sure don't."

They passed a older man, with slicked back white hair with his arms around two young women. Tony patted the man on the shoulder as he walked by, "You look great, Hef."

Tony grabbed Jack by the elbow to slow him down and guide him through the crowd to meet with Obadiah. He grinned at the older man, "What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?"

Obadiah laughed, surprised to see Tony, "Look at you. Hey, what a surprise." The man looked at Jack who was shifting his weight, "And who's this?"

Jack answered before Tony could, reaching his right had out, "I'm Jack."

Obadiah nods and grasps Jack hand in his own, "I'm Obadiah. It's nice to meet you, Jack. So, why are you being dragged by Tony tonight?"

Tony places his hand on Jack shoulder and leans in so only the three of them can hear, "He's my son."

"What?!" Obadiah's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between the two. He could see some resemblance.

Tony nodded, "I'll see you inside."

"Hey. Listen, uh, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right were we want them."

"You got it. Cabin fever. I'll just be a minute."

The building was filled with people in fancy clothing. Jack couldn't help but feel nervous. He didn't think there were so many rich people in one area. Tony walked straight to the bar, "Give me a scotch. I'm starving."

When the bartender looked at Jack, he shrugged, "I'll just have a Dr. Pepper, or a Coke."

A man that was at the bar already turned to them, "Mr. Stark."

Tony turned to him, "Yeah?"

"Agent Coulson."

Realization dawned on Tony, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The guy from the..."

"Strategic Homelad Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

Tony shook his head, "God, you need to get a new name for that."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." Coulson said with an unamused expression, "Listen, I know this must be a trying time for you, but we need to debrief you. There's still a lot of unanswered questions, and time can be a facor with these things. Let's jsut put something on the books." Both Coulson and Jack could see that Tony wasn't even paying attention now, "How about the 24th at 7:00 p.m. at Stark Industries?"

Tony, not even looking at the agent, gave him his right hand to shake, "Tell you what. You got it. You're absolutely right. Well, I'm going to go to my assistant, and we'll make a date."

Jack stayed by Coulson as Tony walked off into the crowd to where he saw Pepper, "I don't think he heard most of what you just said."

They watched as Tony and Pepper began dancing for only a minute before they retreated to the balcony.

"I believe that you may be right." Coulson looked at Jack, "I'm sorry, and you are..."

"Jack Darby. Tony kind of kidnapped me for some father-son bonding."

Coulson raised an eyebrow, "You're his son?"

Jack cocked an eyebrow as well, "Hard to believe?"

"I'm sorry to say, but I'm not really that surprised."

Jack shook his head, "And I don't blame you."

Before Coulson could reply, his cell phone began to vibrate. He looked at the caller ID before saying his goodbye and leaving Jack at the bar. Jack sipped at his Dr. Pepper waiting for Tony to come back from the balcony. Their dance seemed really stiff and awkward, at least for Pepper.

Tony came back quickly, asking the bartender for two martinis. He looked to his right, but quickly turned to Jack muttering under his breath, "Here we go."

"What?" Jack leaned back to look behind Tony, but was stopped by Tony's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't. Look."

"Wow. Tony Stark." A woman said from behind Tony.

Tony sighed, "Nevermind." He turned to face the reporter, "Oh, hey."

"Fancy seeing you here." She said, squeezing herself between Tony and Jack.

Tony narrowed his eyes at her. Who did she think she was, practically pushing his son out of the way. Now that he thought about it, what was her name? It started with a 'C'.

"Carrie."

"Christine." She corrected.

"That's right."

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight. Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic is my reaction." And annoyance.

"'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." She said, glaring at him.

Tony just gave a one shouldered shrug, "Yeah. They just put my name on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you."

"I actually almost bought it, hook, line and sinker."

Both Jack and Tony frowned in confusion. Bought what?

"I was out of town for a couple months, in case you didn't hear." Tony said, his irritation begining to show in his face.

"Is this what you call accountability?" She handed him a few pictures, "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

Tony gave her a hard stare before looking through the pictures. One of people and animals riddled with bullet holes. The others were all focusing on weapons. _His_ weapons.

"When were these taken?"

"Yesterday."

"I didn't approve any shipment."

"Well, your company did."

Jack, who had finally had enough of being ignored, quickly walked around the woman to stand at Tony's side and glare at the woman, "Well, he's not his company."

The woman glared at him, "This has nothing to do with you kid. So why don't you just run along and mind your own business."

Tony took a step forward, "He is minding his 'business', seeing how he is my son. I will not tolerate you or anyone talking to him in that attitude." He waited a second so that she could comprehend what he had just said, "I am sure that Stark Industries isn't your business. So why don't you go and annoy some one else. I'm pretty sure I see Bruce Wayne over there. How about him?"

He turned around and guided Jack back through the crowd and outside, "I want you to go and get my car from the valets. I'll just be a minute. Need to talk to Obadiah." He watched Jack go to where the valets were working before heading over to Obadiah. He didn't acknowldge anyone this time, just stared at the man, "Have you seen these pictures?"

"Tony."

"What's going on in Gulmira?"

Obadiah directed the reporters away from them, "Tony. You can't afford to be this naive."

Tony shook his head, "You know what? I was naive before, when they said, 'Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business.' If we are double dealing under the table..." he took note on Obadiah looking away at that, "Are we?"

Obadiah looked back up him but didn't say anything. They both just watched eachother, waiting for the other to break down first. Then a reporter asked for a picture.

"Let's take a picture. Come on." Both turned around to the cameras, still tense, "Picture time!"

Both men placed a hand on eachother, Tony resting between Obadiah's should blades, and Obadiah on Tony's shoulder. Funny how that gesture could be reassuring and oppressive.

"Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you." Obadiah muttered so only Tony could hear, before leaving.

**OoO**

Jack laid on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. He couldn't get to sleep now. His mind kept wondering to the silent and tense ride back. What was on those pictures that had Tony react in such a way? And what had Obadiah said to him that made it so much worse? He rolled over and curled into a fetal position. It had to do with the company sending off shipments to the Middle East without Tony's signature of approval.

Could the company acually be selling supplies to the groups in the Middle East? Jack sat up at the thought. If they were, what could happen to Tony? He's already being blamed for it based on that stuck up lady's reaction to him.

"JARVIS. What's happening in Gulmira?"

The TV across from the bed lit up to a news channel. A video camera was zoomed in on a man smoking a cigarette.

"_-referred to by locals as the Ten Rings. As you can see, these men are heavily armed and on a mission._" The video switched to another that was zoomed in on some men and missiles that Jack recognized as one of Stark Industries' product, "_A mission that could prove fatal to anyone whoh stands in their way. With no political will or international pressure, there's very little hope for these refugees. Around me, a woman begging for news on her husband, who was kidnapped by insurgents, either forced to join their militia or killed._"

Jack jumped at the sound of something crashing, "What was that?!"

"Mr. Stark is releasing some frustration in the garage." JARVIS answered him.

Jack nodded. Should he go down and make sure Tony doesn't destroy anything of value or himself? Just how pissed off was Tony? The sound of glass shattering came next. Then more. With each sound from the garage, Jack tucked his legs to him and wrapped his arms around himself. He heard the suit's thrusters activating and taking off, quickly quieting down as Tony left.

Jack snorted. How much of a child was he? Curling up in fear from his own father's anger, that wasn't even directed at him. He went to lay down again hoping to get some sleep, but his cell phone went off. He grabbed it fromt the nightstand and answered without looking at the caller ID, "Hello?"

"Jack! Finally dude!"

Jack sat up again, "Miko?"

"Duh! Why didn't you tell us your dad was Tony Stark?!"

"Did my mom tell you guys?"

Miko laughed, "No, she only told us that you went on an out-of-no-where father-son trip."

Jack blinked, "Then how-"

"The news! You're on TV!"

"What?!" Jack dropped the phone and jumped up from the bed, hurrying closser to the TV, "JARVIS can you turn on whichever news channel talking about that party?"

"Of course." The TV switched to a different news station. A woman was interviewing that stuck up reporter Christine. They really were talking about him!

"Oh no." Another channel came on showing footage and pictures of him with Tony at the party. Jack grabbed the phone again, "This is bad."

"How is that bad? You're famous! Oh! I am so jealous right now!"

"No, no. Miko. You don't understand! If I'm on the news then that means _everyone _knows who I am and who my dad is. And they can use that against me and him." Jack ran a hand through his hair before rubbing his neck.

He could hear Miko talking to someone next to her. She paused for a second before speaking to him again, "Let me put you on speaker phone."

"Jack," it was Arcee, "Your mom assured us that your relation to your dad would be kept a secret while you were there. What happened that caused you to be on the news?"

Jack hesitated, "Some reporter really ticked off Tony and me. She said something rude to me, and Tony defended me and-um-it kind of just slipped."

"Jack. You do realise that with this development, you are placed in even more danger from not only both Decepticons and MECH, but others that wish to do your father harm." Optimus said.

Jack groaned, "Yeah."

* * *

**I hope you guys liked it and it made up for the wait. :)**

_**tg-darkside **_**had the idea the Autobots and everyone finding out because paparazzi found out and put Jack on the news.**

**I hope you like it.**

**No clue when the next chapter will be up. College sucks, especially English :) I suck at English.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here is the next chapter and my summer has begun! I'm heading for Florida for the summer and planning to go to Metrocon too. Only been there once and it was awesome. Though it was awkward trying to explain what Furries were to my grandma...**

**I love the season of TFP, though I'm not too sure about Smokescreen's new paint job. It may grow on me though. And I have joined the dragonformer bandwagon with my drawings. And I've been drawing some horseformers too...And I like how no one mentioned anything about the Bruce Wayne insert in the last chapter :D**

**Anyways hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Jack groaned, squinting his eyes to the light in his eyes. He rolled away from the window. His grip on his phone tightened, and he absentmindedly hoped that the Autobots didn't mind him falling asleep during the phone call. He passed out sometime during his explanation of his experiences with Tony.

The door to his room opened, "Jack? What are you still doing in bed? It's almost noon. Is Tony in the garage?"

Jack's eyes opened to see Pepper leaning through the partially open door. He groaned again and wiped the sleep from his eyes, "He should be."

"Alright. Well, come on, get out of bed. I've brought Dunkin' Donuts. I'll go get you father from whatever techno induced trance he's got himself into. And you need to start packing some of your things, you're going home today." She said with a sad smile before shutting his door.

Jack sat up and looked at his phone screen. At least the guys weren't still on waiting for him. He yawned and stretched, dropping the phone onto his pillow. Quickly changing into a random pair of jeans and a shirt, he hurried down and plucked a chocolate glazed donut from the bag Pepper brought and went down to the garage.

"-this isn't the worse thing yo've caught me doing."

Jack stopped on the stairs where he could see both Pepper and Tony. Tony had his suit on, steaming like he had just come home, and in an awkward position as JAARVIS tried to dismantle the suit. Pepper had her back towards Jack so he could see her expression, but he could assume that it was of confusion and disbelief.

"Are those bullet holes?"

"What's the worse thing that Pepper walked in on?"

Both adults looked at him like they didn't even realise he was there. Tony broke into a grin, while Pepper went red.

"You don't want to know."

They waited patiently for JARVIS to get Tony out. Though Pepper and Jack had brought down the bag of donuts, exaggerating with how good they tasted just to annoy Tony.

"What are we gonna do today?" Tony asked when he finally got out of the suit and sat down next to Jack.

"Can't do much. I need to leave today."

Tony laughed, "You forget that I own an airplane. We can leave at midnight or later if we choose to."

Jack shook his head, "I don't think Mom would like that. Neither would Arcee, who said that she _will_ be picking me up from Elko."

"What? Am I unable to take you home?" Tony said frowning.

"No no. That's not it. It's just that-well-Arcee wants to pick me up 'cause we-uh..." Jack paused to think about it, "I think Arcee just wants to spend some time with me since I was kind of kidnapped unexpectedly."

Tony snorted, "I think every kidnapping is unexpected."

Pepper cut in, "That's not the point Tony."

"So? But is Arcee your girl friend or something?"

Jack coughed midswallow of a donut, "N-no! No we are not!"

"June said that she wants Jack back before Ten 'o Clock on-the-dot tonight. Which means he needs to leave around four." Pepper stood, "May as well start going through some of your stuff so you're not in a panic and rushing later, Jack."

Jack nodded and went up to his room with Pepper following. Tony frowned, biting into a donut angrily. Why couldn't he drive Jack home? Though it did make sense for a friend of Jack's friends to want to get him after a rude disappearance. Now that he thought about it though, Jack's online profile only said he had two friends. Miko and Rafael. Who was Arcee?

"JARVIS, look up Arcee on all online profiles. Spelt 'A-R-C-E-E'."

After a few minutes JARVIS answered, "There are no 'Arcee's' in record sir."

"What about in birth certificates of in the US?"

"None sir."

OoO

Pepper came into the garage later on to see Tony working on the suit in silence. She came over to the desks that surrounded him, waiting for him to take notice of her appearance. Which he did rather quickly.

"Hey. You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand? I need you to go to my office while I see Jack off on the plane. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent manifests." He took out a flashdrive from a small wooden box, "This is a lock chip. This'll get you in."

Pepper took the flashdrive.

"It's probably under Exxecutive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading." He stated, walking to another desk to look at a piece of machinery.

"And what do you plan to do with this information if I bring it back here?"

"Same drill. They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

Pepper shook her head in disbelief, "Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."

"There is _nothing_ except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is _nothing _to _sign_." He turned to her, "There is the next mission, and nothing else."

She could feel her throat tighten and the back of her eyes burning, "Is that so? Well, then, I guess that you bringing Jack here was for nothing, since there is nothing except the next mission. And I quit." She dumped the flashdrive on the desk and turned to leave.

Tony stared at her, "You know that is not what I meant, so don't bring Jack into this. And you have stood by my side all of these years while I reaped the benefits of _destruction_. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?"

Pepper spun on her heel, "You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it. How do you think Jack will feel about that? Finally meeting his father, only for his dad to go out and kill himself?!"

"Jack isn't a part of this."

"Yes he is! Whether you want him to be or not, he is. And he has been a part of this when you both met." Pepper was trembling in effort to not slap Tony.

Tony sighed, "I know what I have to do now. I shouldn't be alive unless it was for a reason. I know that even if Jack hadn't been born, I would still be doing this. Because I know, in my heart, it's right."

Pepper walked back to him and grabbed the flashdrive, "You, Jack, and June are all I have too, you know."

OoO

Four o' Clock came much sooner than what Tony had wanted. He spent the final two hours helping Jack sort through clothes and items that he had bought Jack. A lot of the clothes were staying here, like the suit. Jack kept saying that he most likely wouldn't wear it ever in Jasper.

A few pairs of jeans and shirts were all that Jack would be taking with him. Tony sighed heavily through his nose. How did the week go by so quickly? Now they were pulling up the road that led to his plane's hanger.

Jack chuckled suddenly.

"What?" Tony looked over.

Jack grinned, "We never went to an amusement park."

Tony chuckled as well, "And I didn't get to teach you how to drive a car."

"All the more reason for me to come back huh?" Jack glanced over at Tony.

"If you want to." Tony could feel his chest swell in happiness, "I promise that it won't start with me kidnapping you."

Jack laughed, "That would be nice. I don't think my friends will like for that to happen again, even if it is by you."

"Oh come on," Tony smirked, "From the looks of it, most of your friends are women. What woman can resist my charm?"

Jack tried to stop his laugh when he thought about Tony trying to flirt his way out of trouble with Arcee, "Oh, you'd be surprised."

Tony pulled over beside the plane and parked the car, "You sure you don't want me to go with? See you off and see this Arcee?"

"I'm sure. I'm 16. I think I can sit on a plane on my own." Jack said smiling. Both got out of the car after Tony pressed the button to open the trunk.

"That is true, but still. Can't I come with?"

Jack took his suit case, "Sorry, but Arcee may try to kill you for taking me."

"Oh? She'd go that far? Possessive."

"You could say that." Jack said with a shrug. They stopped in front of the steps leading into the plane, "Well...I guess I'll see you later then."

Tony smiled sadly, "Yeah. Don't be a stranger. You have my cell number now, and let me know when you're summer vacation starts. I'll send the plane for you, or come get you myself. Which ever you would prefer."

Jack nodded, "Alright. Summer will begin sometime in May I think. I'll text you the date when I get back."

Jack made his way into the plane and quickly sat down. He waved to Tony from the window when they began taxi-ing out. A flight attendant came up and asked if he wanted anything, but Jack politely declined saying he wasn't too hungry or thirsty.

This was going to be a boring flight. Hopefully he'll fall asleep before they hit any turbulence.

OoO

Tony watched the plane leave from his car. A frown on his face, he thought about all that happened in the past week. Part of him worried that Jack didn't didn't enjoy working on the suit with him, that Jack probably wanted to go out and actually do something with him. Like going to a beach or to an amusement park like Tony had originally planned. What teenager didn't actually want to go out and do something if there were no videogames in the house.

Tony arrived home quickly, and almost instantly his house phone started to ring. He looked around for the phone as he walked to the couch. He lifted a pillow off the couch and grabbed the phone. Pepper was calling. But why was she calling his house and not his cell like she normally did? He accepted the call and placed the phone snuggly between his head and shoulder.

"Tony?"

He never got a word out though. An intense ringing filled his ears. He could feel the veins on the side of his head begin to stick out, the instant sluggish feel in the back of his head as the blood began to slow. His eyes widened. He knew this! He went through this before!

"Tony, are you there? Hello?"

A wrist cradled the back of his head, gently leaning him back into the couch. A hand took the phone from him and began to lean him back as well.

"Breathe."

Tony inhaled quickly, momentarily forgetting that he needed to. He glance to his left. He could just barely see that damned device from years ago.

"Easy, easy."

Tony released a small strained groan, trying to move and fight off the paralysis effect.

"You remember this one, right?"

_Hard not to._

"It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There are so many applications for causing short term paralysis."

_It was supposed to be destroyed, you bastard. You said you got rid of it!_

"Ah Tony." A hand grabbed his chin and turned his head so he could look at Obadiah. Oh how Tony wished he could actually speak or move right now, "When I-uh-ordered that hit on you."

_Traitorous bastard._

Obadiah started messing with something that Tony couldn't see, "I was worried that I was," He revealed a clamper that Tony knew was going to take his reactor, "killing the golden goose." He could feel the heat radiating as the thing burned away at his shirt and small metal clamps that secured the reactor in his chest, "But, you see, it was just fate-" the clamper shot a thin metal sheet into the reactor holder disconnecting any wires that were on the sides, "-that you survived that."

Obadiah twisted the clamper to make sure that all connections were broken, "You had one last golden egg to give." He lifted the Arc reactor from Tony, "Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you?"

_Yeah, that's exactly how it works. Damn coward, just wait for the paralysis to wear off._

"Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?"

_Yeah well war changes things around a bit. Do you honestly think he would have 'helped' if there wasn't a war threatening everything he knew?_

Tony gasped when Obadiah pulled the last connection out. He could already feel his heart struggling.

"Oh it's beautiful."

_No. It's not._

"Tony, this is you Ninth Symphony." He sat down beside Tony, "What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy."

_No way is some scrap of metal and energy my legacy._

"A new generation of weapons with this at its heart."

_I'm sorry Jack. I might not be able to stop this from getting into government hands._

"Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands."

_I need to get to the Arc Reactor in the shop._

"I wish you could've seen my prototype."

_Prototype?_

"It's not as uh...Well not as conservative as yours."

_How did you make it? No one got a hold of my blue prints._

"Too bad you had to involve Pepper and your _son_ in this. I would have preferred that she live, though your son. I can't have a Stark heir get in my way of the company again."

_Don't you dare! Don't you **dare** go for Jack!_

He watched Obadiah leave with his reactor, cursing and promising pain on the man if he went anywhere near Jack. He needed to get to the reactor in the garage, he'd have a chance then. But the paralysis still had a hold on him for another two minutes.

Tony took as deep of a breath he could. He needed to calm down, calm his heart rate. Where was that reactor? One of his desks. He would need to be able reach it, so hopefully it wasn't on anything ontop of the desk incase he wouldn't be able to stand or pull himself up. He glance at the clock. One more minute.

He would need the reactor, hope it could sustain the newer suit. He needed to stop Obadiah. He would go for Pepper first, since she is closest and Obadiah knew where she was. Tony silently thanked what ever would listen since Obadiah didn't know Jack's last name. He did June's, but that was so long ago that Obadiah probably forgot about it.

The feeling in his arms and legs began to return, although extremely sluggish and heavy. He forced himself to his feet and went to the elevator, leaning against anything that would help hold him up. He fell into elevator, thankfully he didn't get an overly large one like he wanted or else he would be on the ground and not leaning against a corner.

He pushed himself up straighter with the railing, waiting for the elevator doors to open into the garage.

The doors opened and he stumbled out. His heart was slowing more than what should be safe for an awake and slightly panicking man. He was sweating profusely and his hands and arms were white and felt staticky from the lack of blood being pumped in them. He could only imagine what that rest of him looked. One of his legs gave under his weight and he fell to the floor.

Tony cursed under his breath and began crawling to the desk. Pushing himself from the back of a car and rolling the creeper out of his way. He grabbed a tote and pulled it underneath himself. He reached up for the reactor, but the glass and his uncoordinated movements went against him and pushed the reactor further onto the desk. He felt that it was on a book and grabbed the book. He could pull it to him along with the reactor.

His fingers wouldn't bend and grip the book cover, and the tote slid out from under him. He rolled over onto his back breathing heavily. _So this was it huh?_

He could faintly hear Dummy's hydralics going, and slowly the reactor was lowered into his view. He grabbed onto it, wondering if this was some weird hallucination. But seeing Dummy looking down at him...why would Dummy be in some pre-death hallucination? It had to be real. Though it was weird how a rivet and a stripped screw looked like eyes on the robot, and how it gave a curious _whoop_ like it was asking if he was alright.

"Good boy." He smashed the glass apart and began digging the reactor out of the metal frame. He just barely connected the reactor when a black dots started popping into his vision. He took a few deep breaths. He needed to calm down, the reactor was in, everything would be fine.

"Tony?"

Sounded like Rhodey.

"Tony? Tony!"

Tony felt hands grab his arms and pull him over onto his back. He grabbed ahold of what he could. It was Rhodey.

"Tony, you okay?"

"Where's Pepper?"

Rhodes looked at him like he was crazy to ask that, "She's fine. She's with five agents-"

Tony sat up more. Five agents? Only five?

"They're about to arrest Obadiah."

Tony shook his head, "That's not going to be enough. Help me up."

Rhodes grabbed Tony's arm and pulled him to his feet, "If five agents aren't going to be enough then what are you going to do?"

"You should've come over to see the project when I invited you to." Tony walked over to the center of the room, "JARVIS, suit me up."

"Yes sir."

* * *

**There you have it! Hopefully since it is summer I will be able to write more. Please review and comment about the chapter/story, I really do appreciate it!**

**Does anyone want to make a cover image for this story?**


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